It feels like the opening day of the Beijing Olympics. Plenty of optimism about the nasty government changing but we all know it's a big lie. They probably figured out another way of achieving the same goal, but with less of a PR disaster. The Guardian:
Instead of proceeding with plans to transform its notorious Great Firewall internet censor with new tools known as Green Dam, the authorities desisted. A terse statement ran on the Xinhua news agency. "China will delay the mandatory installation of the 'Green Dam-Youth Escort' filtering software on new computers."
The plan to bundle the software into every new computer in China had provoked an unprecedented wave of online opposition, protests by foreign governments and calls by prominent bloggers for Chinese netizens to climb, attack and demonstrate against the "Great Firewall". China insists the software is necessary to clear the Chinese web of "harmful content". But critics say it is a misguided attempt to put the internet genie back in the bottle by a Communist party with about 300 million netizens to answer to.
But this was just a small victory in a larger war. The tools have been shelved temporarily, not scrapped. Wen Yuchao, a journalist and blogger who goes by the online name North Wind, cautioned against overoptimism. "I am happy at this news, but this is just an interim victory – we still have a long way to go in the struggle. It remains to be seen whether the authorities will press ahead."
Main & gay blog