China Ditches Compulsory Green Dam Plans

scrubl writes "China has ditched plans to force foreign and domestic computer manufacturers to install internet filtering technology in computers sold inside its borders. The Chinese government paid $5.85m to develop the software called Green Dam and claimed it was being installed to stop access to porn on computers and protect children. China's industry and information technology minister Li Yizhong said that manufacturers, Internet users, and organisations opposed to the plans had received the wrong message from his department and that installation was never planned to be compulsory."

The question I have is-

[FlyingSquidStudios]

Why this sudden change in policy. Obviously, their claim of a misunderstanding is unbelievable, but what did make them change their mind about Green Dam? Does it have anything to do with the recent WTO ruling [cnn.com] on easing the controls of media imports? Was it because it was too faulty? Too difficult to implement? Or is there something even more sinister at work, like a decision to install such software at the provider level instead of the individual level?

why not just do it this way

[FudRucker]

do not censor the internet, the lies and bullsh!t eventually gets debunked and the truth eventually shines through

Related to Iran's "filtering" successes

[pearl298]

Am I just paranoid in thinking that this is related to Iran's and Australia's recent success at filtering "objectionable" content at the ISP level?

Certainly it is much easier to administer at that level with only a relatively few portals.

This sounds like it validates the work on Fastnet and TOR.