Teachers: "Green Dam Must Go"

At the beginning of last month things were looking pretty bad for “Green Dam Youth Escort”: Beijing's much maligned Internet filtering software application.

It seemed that everybody had it in for the Beijing's chosen consumer-end censorship tool. Human rights activists denounced it as a thinly disguised tool for limiting freedom of speech and expression. The fascist copyright police denounced it as a blatant rip off of CyberSitter. A so-called net nanny package from US based Solid Oak software. And even the usually meek computer geek fraternity denounced it as being a digital back-door to computer systems that literally invited computer hackers in.

Even usually conservative analysts were forced to question whether the package was really designed to protect children from online pornography, or if it was indeed the free speech zapping tool that the bleeding heart liberals claimed it was. Particularly since it was revealed public that early releases of the software contained a list of paltry 2,700 blocked terms relating to pornography and other internet nasties, and a staggering 6,500 blocked terms relating to politically sensitive topics such as the Tienanmen Square Massacre and Tibet.

Bad as things seemed, things got worse for Green Dam in Mid August. Amidst a barrage of criticism Beijing was forced to scale back its plan for Green Dam.

Initially Green Dam was to be mandatory on all public access computers. Those in schools, internet Cafes, and so on. And was to be provided with all new home computers retailed on the Mainland. Even those from foreign companies.

After the initial outburst of protest, however, Beijing capitulated somewhat, and contracted its plans. Removing the requirement for the software to be shipped with new PC, and instead mandating only that it need be retro installed on PC in public places, and dropping requirements for it to be shipped with home and office computers

However, with September under way, it would seem that Beijing is going to have to rethink even this plan. Because yet another group of people has come out against Green Dam.

This time it's school teachers who are up in arms, and who are openly defying government orders regarding Green Dam.

Defiance?

Apparently, Green Dam is so badly thought out, and so poorly written, that it interferes with school administration software, and makes normal computer usage near impossible for some teachers. Resulting in them removing it from their systems with extreme prejudice. Despite it being a government mandated software package.

According to education officials, there have been so many complaints about Green Dam - which is known to crash applications if the user types in innocent/every day phrases that are used as slang terms for politically sensitive issues – that the software even school leaders are ordering the removal of the software.


Of particular note is the fact that officials in  the Chongwen District  Education Commission have ordered Green Dam's removal across their schools. Chongwen District is a stones throw from Tiananmen square and the Great Hall of the People.

Media reports quote officials with the Chongwen District Education Commission as saying that they were trapped in an impossible situation with contradictory demands coming from both above and below

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology above telling schools to install the software, and teachers below telling them that is was making life impossible for them, and was thusly harming the education of Chinese children.


What Next?

What happens next is unclear. With analysts proffering several different possibilities.

On one hand Beijing has a significant amount of face invested in Green Dam, and has based a significant portion of its citizen control plan on its ability to restrict and control public opinion on the Internet. Which Green Dam was a part of. Thus, Beijing is unlikely to want to give it up without a fight.

This course of action largely leaves Beijing with only one option: Fix Green Dam and try again.

It remains to be seen if Beijing will deny that there are widespread problems, and force people to continue to use the unfit version of Green Dam until a new version can be created, or if it will allow people to uninstall the software without making a fuss, and then present them with a fixed version at a later date.

On the other hand, Beijing may feel so humiliated by the whole fiasco, which has hit both supporters and critics of the government alike, that it will let Green Dam go under, Then gradually airbrush it out of history. Under Beijing traditional mantra “If we don't talk about it, then it didn't happen”.

Whatever happens, one thing is for certain, Beijing is likely to be a lot more cautious in the future , when it comes to public projects such as this.

Further Reading

Internet Censorship: Green Dam, Beijing and Beyond
The Great Green Dam(n) Climbdown

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