China's 'Green Dam' Software Program Near Collapse

katarn writes "Apparently domestic and international pressure, security vulnerabilities, and a $2.2B lawsuit over alleged stolen code have taken their toll on China's Green Dam software censorship program. Green Dam is a separate program from the 'Great Firewall of China,' which remains firmly in place. According to Green Dam program partners, funding for the project has not been renewed. The project development team has been shut down and the installation and aftercare team is facing closure. Unsurprisingly there has been no official comment from official Chinese authorities."

Going green

[MrEricSir]

But now how will China go green?

Re:

[Yvan256]

Maybe they should read the previous topic?

Re:

[MrEricSir]

Maybe they shouldn't fail at reading and/or getting fairly obvious jokes?

Re:

[MrEricSir]

There's no -1 for "I don't get it."

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

But now how will China go green?

Crossbreeding with Na'vi.

Note: It was a US Software Company suing for 2.2B

[Mekkah]

Not only was it a 2.2b lawsuit, but it was brought on by US Software Firms.

US software firm sues China over Green Dam piracy [guardian.co.uk]

Re:

[Monkeedude1212]

Who handles these kinds of cases?

I seriously have no clue how international law (especially with copyrights) work.

Re:

[Mekkah]

To the best of my knowledge. these lawsuits have to be run through the World Trade Organization [wto.org].

This is also where ie. someone like Google would sue over those intrusion attacks made by China a few months back.

Re:

[MightyMartian]

According to WIPO, China is a signatory, and the treaty is in force, which means there is domestic legislation in China, and it would be via this that I'm assuming software makers would be suing.

Re:

[MightyMartian]

Link is here: http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang=en&treaty_id=16 [wipo.int]

Re:

[ILuvRamen]

It wasn't just a "US Software Firm" it was the infamous Solid Oak, the makers of Cyber Sitter. I just had someone's comp have Cyber Sitter version 10 (the version they ripped off to make Green Dam) blow itself up and removing manually it is an unbelievable pain in the ass. The LSP's regenerate themselves if all pieces of the software aren't deleted at the exact same time. So needless to say, it probably would have worked well which is why they stole it. The funny thing is, it's a pretty poorly rated pro

How would we know?

[grasshoppa]

Maybe they have commented, but it got censored.

I'll show myself out.

Dam it!

[daremonai]

According to Mr Chen, requests to the government for more funding had generated no response.

Actually, the government did try to respond, but unfortunately Green Dam blocked it. Some sort of obscenity issue, apparently.

Damn China damn green damn software

[bigfootchick]

Damn China damn green damn software sirs.

Re:Damn China damn green damn software

[Coren22]

**** China **** green **** software sirs.

China green software? What is this supposed to mean? I don't understand. Are you saying I should uninstall Green Dam?

I'm eagerly awaiting...

[alephnull42]

... the juicy novelization of what _really_ happened, by Cory Doctorow of course :-) Plenty of puns to choose from for the title ("Damn, Green", the "Green and the Damned", "The new Dambusters").

Re:

[grcumb]

... the juicy novelization of what _really_ happened, by Cory Doctorow of course :-) Plenty of puns to choose from for the title ("Damn, Green", the "Green and the Damned", "The new Dambusters").

Nonono, Cory is Canadian. The only reasonable title is 'Red Green', accompanied by subtle puns about how the software is only (duct) taping over the holes.

Maybe then can sell it to MA

[xednieht]

I hear Massachusetts is in the market for a green dam of their own - Bean Dam maybe. Perhaps they can sell it to MA.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/07/13/1837227/Massachusetts-Bids-To-Restrict-Internet-Indecency [slashdot.org]

They close the team because ..

[ablmf]

because last year they already got enough money from the government. Now maybe the boss of the company is on a flight to Hawaii where he will enjoy that money on the beach.

Re:

[dyingtolive]

I observe that officially the official opinion on official officials unofficially offering observations oft results in their officious remains being officially reduced to offal in an operation often offensive to olfactory organs.

Awful.

Re:Officially Official

[Stormwatch]

All continental China authorities are unofficial. The official, legitimate government of China is the one in Taipei.

Good!

[alexborges]

Although one wonders:

China can't do it because its so huge, but what about smaller countries like Canada, the US, Mexico or Brazil?

Green damn!

[interval1066]

"According to Green Dam program partners, funding for the project has not been renewed. The project development team has been shut down and the installation and aftercare team is facing closure. Unsurprisingly there has been no official comment from official Chinese authorities."

Further, Green Dam project partners have been trying to get the development team on the phone for weeks, but just yesterday have been getting "Number not in service" recordings, and the mail and news papers have been collecting at the door of the development team office for months.

Re:

[MightyMartian]

Further, Green Dam project partners have been trying to get the development team on the phone for weeks, but just yesterday have been getting "Number not in service" recordings, and the mail and news papers have been collecting at the door of the development team office for months.

In most places that would mean it was out of business. In China it means that, tragically, the developers died in a plane crash after forgetting to put fuel in the tank.

This thread is useless without pics!

[MarbleMunkey]

Does someone still have all those cute 'anime' style Green Dam Girl pics?

Re:

[Stormwatch]

Does someone still have all those cute 'anime' style Green Dam Girl pics?

This? [paheal.net] (alert, NSFW)

What funding?

[imthesponge]

The project doesn't need funding; the developers will work for the good of the people. That's what Mao would have wanted, right? He was an OSS kind of guy.

You coulda saved a buck or two (or two billion)

[abbynormal brain]

With China's version of "Big Brother" pictures in every home and face-eating-rat cage rooms. That's what you get for trying to go "legit".
Good day brother!

Close an over-budget, non-performing program down?

[ibsteve2u]

How un-American of them...we'd just rotate contractors.

20m Yuan for stealing a sw?

[dUN82]

Things work like this in China, if the gov or most of times a particular person who is in charge want sth to be done, and done quickly, you do it as required,and once you grabbed all the money you leave, no one actually cares what happens after wards. No public enquirers will be allowed to question how the gov spent tax money since that info is considered as state secret. You probably know that if you steal a s/w and do some localization work won't cost 20m yuan.

Tired of all the green crap

[xmorg]

Heck a beaver can build a dam for a LOT cheaper.

Conroy take note

[bsercombe72]

The Australian government spent $84 million trying to do something similar for our measly population and failed. Why should China be any different. Sadly, the Australian government knows that the great firewall works, so now they are biding their time until after the looming election when they will announce the the mere fact they were elected means that they have a mandate to ram internet filtering down our throats at who knows what cost. And the firewall will STILL totally fail to meet its stated goals. Au