The delay by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, announced via Xinhua, the official news agency, came just one day before the July 1 deadline for the software to be installed on all computers produced and sold in China.
The software, called the Green Dam-Youth Escort, had caused a torrent of protests from both Chinese computer users and global computer makers, including many in the United States, since the government order became public in early June.
The Obama administration had officially warned China that the requirement could violate free-trade agreements, and sent trade officials to Beijing recently to press the government to rescind the decision. In Beijing on Tuesday, a United States Embassy spokesperson said that Washington welcomed the announcement.
China has said the software is designed to filter out pornography and violence to protect minors, but many experts say it can also block any other content that the authorities deem subversive.
The ministry said the mandatory installation would be delayed for an indefinite period to give computer producers more time to put the order into effect.
As a practical matter, the abrupt postponement bows to reality, because most of China’s computer retailers have large stocks of machines, manufactured months before the decree was announced, that have yet to be sold. Many global computer makers have declined to say how they would comply with the requirement, apparently hoping that the government would delay or reverse its decision under international pressure.
The filtering software has been the object of furious online debate since the requirement to install it was disclosed. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which licensed the technology from two Chinese developers, says that the software automatically blocks Web surfers from seeing “unhealthy Internet content.” Updated lists of banned content are automatically downloaded onto users’ computers from the developers’ servers.
But the software’s current list of banned words, posted online by Chinese hackers, is laced with political topics. Businesses have complained that the software is so poorly designed that it opens computers not just to government snooping, but also to hacker attacks by vandals and criminals.
On Friday, the heads of 22 international business organizations delivered a letter to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arguing that the Green Dam project flouted China’s professed goal of building an information-based society, and that it posed a threat to security, privacy and free speech. A day earlier, the European Union also protested, saying the software was clearly designed to limit free speech.
Global computer makers have argued that they are being forced to install untested software on their products for purposes that they may regard as objectionable.
In Washington, the Business Software Alliance, a group representing software makers worldwide, said Tuesday that it was encouraged by the government’s delay and hoped for “a thorough examination of the related technology issues.”
Green Dam works only on computers that use the Windows operating system. So far, no version has been released for Macintosh and Linux systems. Nor would the software be required in Hong Kong or Macao, said one expert who is familiar with the government’s requirement.
The Chinese government has said little about the requirement. Zhang Chenmin, the founder of one Green Dam developer, Jinhui, has frequently described the software order as voluntary and innocuous, but he did not respond Tuesday to telephone calls and text messages seeking comment.
Meanwhile, it appeared that computer makers had yet to comply with the directive, not only in the hope that the government would alter its plans but also because the order gave them scant time to test Green Dam with their machines.
Only Acer, a Taiwan manufacturer that assembles many of its products in China, has said that it would install Green Dam on its machines. A spokesman for Lenovo, China’s best-selling computer brand, did not respond to a question about its Green Dam policies, although some Beijing vendors said the software has been installed on some Lenovo models.
Hewlett-Packard — China’s No. 2 computer brand, according to the market-intelligence firm IDC — has been silent on its plans, as has Dell, the third-best-selling brand. According to the Web site Rconversation, which has published many leaked documents regarding Green Dam, Sony had already packaged a software CD with some of its computers, along with a statement warning that it was not responsible for any problems the program may cause.
Major Beijing computer retailers said most computers being sold lacked the software. One of China’s biggest electronics chains, Suning, insisted Tuesday that the government order applied only to computers manufactured after July 1, and not to those manufactured before that date but sold later at retail.
“Suning is an outlet, so we’re also playing the role of monitor” to ensure that the computers have the software as required, a company spokesperson, Min Juanqing, said. “If the computer doesn’t meet the requirement, we won’t purchase it.”
Several other vendors contacted Tuesday said that their existing stocks of computers were manufactured in April or May, and that computers equipped with Green Dam were unlikely to reach their shelves for several weeks.
One vendor, who identified himself only as Mr. Wu, acknowledged that some buyers see little but trouble in the government’s order. “Some of our clients are concerned about the security of the software,” he said. “I myself haven’t tried it yet, but we’ve been paying attention to it. I personally don’t want to install this software, but the government has asked us to install it for our kids’ good.
“But we can help you uninstall it if you want,” he said. “It could be easy to erase it completely from your computer.”
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