Green Dam - more
China's Green Dam filter vulnerable - researchers
BEIJING (Reuters) - A software filter mandated by the Chinese government leaves users vulnerable to malicious sites that might steal personal data or install code on the personal computer, researchers at the University of Michigan found.
China has mandated that the "Green Dam" software be preinstalled on all new computers made or shipped by July 1, saying that the move will protect children against pornography.
Many schools have already installed it. U.S. industry associations representing computer manufacturers have asked China to reconsider the requirement, based on concerns ranging from cyber-security and performance of the software to Internet freedoms.
Web sites can exploit vulnerabilities in the software to take control of the computer, according to a report by Scott Wolchok, Randy Yao and J Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan.
"This could allow malicious sites to steal private data, send spam, or enlist the computer in a botnet," said the report (www.cse.umich.edu/~jhalderm/pub/gd/).
"In addition, we found vulnerabilities in the way Green Dam processes blacklist updates that could allow the software makers or others to install malicious code during the update process."
Green Dam filters words and images, as well as web addresses.
Once installed, the program automatically closes Microsoft browser Internet Explorer if the user tries to access a blacklisted site, including those belonging to banned spiritual group Falun Gong, according to a user who is testing it.
Meanwhile, Chinese education departments are pressing ahead with installing the program, state media said.
About 4 million computers at all the 1,500-some primary and secondary schools in Shanghai will be equipped with Green Dam by the end of this month in order to block access to pornographic and vulgar software, the Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
About 48 percent of teenagers have visited porn Websites, Xinhua said, citing a survey released by the Chinese Youth Research Centre last month.
(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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路透：中国国内电脑市场——绿坝的真正阻碍
(2009-06-30)中国最新推出的网络管制措施遭到了人权活动家和美国的质疑，但“绿坝”软件面临的真正困难可能来自于中国国内的电脑市场。
政府要求周三起所有电脑必须预装过滤软件“绿坝”，这一命令看起来很容易执行，但在中关村走一遭你就会发现，那里有很多卖电脑、软件——还有黄色光盘的人，这一计划的落实还面临很多困难。
关于绿坝，这里很多卖电脑软件的零售商要麽是不清楚它为何物，要麽就是觉得没什麽大不了。
在海龙大厦，一个卖戴尔笔记本电脑的20多岁的女子吴葆宝（音）反问到：“绿坝是什麽？”
“7月1号以後你要买电脑的话就会有这麽一个软件，” 她问完旁边店铺的销售人员後说到，“但别担心……我们可以很轻松地把它给卸下来。”
多年来跨国集团一直对中国政府打击盗版软件不力感到不满，但现在看来，这个缺乏监管的市场也有可能让政府头疼，绿坝最终的命运可能是被扫入垃圾箱，或者被束之高阁。
“绿坝计划严重破坏了市场规则。政府不应该强制推行某种品牌的软件，” 人民大学公共政策领域的教授毛寿龙在中关村路边说到，“但实际上的影响很有限。人们可以自愿选择，而且市场细分到如此程度，你也没法轻松控制住它。大公司 会遵守命令，但谁能指挥得动数千家小公司呢？”
中国“矽谷”
毗邻北京多家大学的中关村号称是中国的“矽谷”，微软、谷歌等众多IT巨头都在这里设有实验室或办公室。
中关村电子产品贸易商会告诉路透，这里有3,147家注册在案的电子产品零售商，去年个人电脑销量达240万部。但这还不包括很多没有注册的店铺。
现在这里比几年前干净多了，卖盗版软件的人也不那麽明目张胆了，但肯定还是有。
在中关村路边，你会看到一些抱小孩的、仪容不整的女子，装作若无其事地经过你的身边，飞快地在你耳边小声问你要不要盘。抱小孩是为了避免警察搜身。
跟着一个女人快速穿过堆满砖头的肮脏的小巷，成堆的色情光盘便会出现在你面前。
矽谷电脑城的销售人员杨福英（音）说，生意太不好做了，都来不及多想政府的绿坝计划。
“年中通常是淡季，经济危机一来就更糟糕了，” 他说，“我们会告诉顾客软件的事，但我觉得没什麽影响。你可以要麽卸了它要麽扔了它，那又能怎麽样呢？”
来源：路透社
《联合早报网》（编辑：杨丽娟
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