China delays requirement Web-filtering software on PCs
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12726245

China Software Filter Delay is Boon to PC Makers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124639726321775865.html

Anger in China over web censorship
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8124735.stm

Green Dam and "The Great Cave-In of China"
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/167628/green_dam_and_the_great_cavein_of_china.html

China's Online Population Explosion [pdf]
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2007/Chinas-Online-Population-Explosion.aspx

Electronic Frontier Foundation [pdf]
http://www.eff.org/

The world has been closely looking into the role that Twitter has played in the recent social unrest and protests in Iran, and China has also been the scene of another related story as of late. In early June, the Chinese government announced that computer manufacturers who wanted to sell computers in China would have to install Internet filtering software on all of their machines. However, in a rather rare reversal, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reacted to the criticism they had received from the U.S. government, the computer industry, and its own citizens, by announcing that they would be delaying this requirement for the time being. China already has in place a sophisticated Internet filtering system, but civil rights groups, other governments, and technical associations have voiced opposition to this practice. It remains to be seen how all of this will play out, but for those with an interest in such matters, it's a story worth following over the coming weeks and months. [KMG]

The first link will take visitor to a piece from this Tuesday's San Jose Mercury News which reports on this recent decision by the Chinese government. The second link will take users to a similar article from the Wall Street Journal which offers some commentary from several large computer manufacturers. Moving on, the third link leads to a piece from the BBC which includes commentary from several parties which were quite critical about China's initial decision to require this filtering software. The fourth link leads to an editorial piece on the subject from PCWorld's own David Coursey. The fifth link will whisk users away to an interesting report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project about China's rapidly growing Internet user base. Finally, the last link leads to the homepage of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is a civil liberties group concerned with defending rights in the digital world. [KMG]