It’s no secret—ever since there have been BBS’s you could dial into on the Internet, there has been pornographic material you could get online as well. Porn spreads whatever way it can because of how it manipulates and controls human lust. But does a given search engine actually spread porn?
“We have found that the English version of google.com has spread lots of pornographic, lewd and vulgar content, which is in serious violation of Chinese laws and regulations,” said foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a news briefing. He said authorities summoned Google representatives and told them to “remove the material immediately.” [MyWay News – China accuses Google of spreading pornography]
To accomplish this end, they require that all companies providing computers to China have the “Green Dam Youth Escort” software installed, starting July 1.
China, being a socialist state, states that it’s trying to protect its people from porn. GDYE does tend to filter some of that out, but like many filtering programs, it also blocks innocuous content.
Should the Chinese government have a say in what is seen by its constituents? What would you think if the U.S. Government outlawed pornographic content and demanded that all computers come pre-installed with a specific filter?