Green Dam Youth Escort, the web filtering program that was supposed to be shipped with every new PC in China from July 1st onwards, is a bad idea. It's a bad idea because it's a potential security hole; it's a bad idea because it allows the Chinese government even bigger control over Internet in China.
I suspect, however, that none of these would have been enough for the companies such as HP and Dell to send a letter of protest directly to the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The fact that this requirement was announced at the end of May probably made it impossible for large companies to test the software and figure out how to bundle it with their hardware.
Having no choice but to protest this bizarre plan, trade groups, American, European and Japanese chambers of commerce, and the U.S. National Association of Manufacturers decided to show some guts, writing a letter that points out the many things that are wrong not only with Green Dam, but with censorship in general.
"The Green Dam mandate raises significant questions of security, privacy, system reliability, the free flow of information and user choice ... it seems to run counter to China's important goal of becoming a vibrant and dynamic information-based society," says the letter.
Yes, the wording is careful (...seems to run...), but the essence is there: censorship is bad. It's an immensely important move, since it is very rare to see large corporations comment on government policies. The Chinese government obviously did not think this one through; by cornering large manufacturers and forcing them to comply with nearly impossible demands, they've gotten an unprecedented response.