[citation][nom]hemelskonijn[/nom]The greendam software was supposed to be distributed with every computer sold there is no law stating you have to use it and there is no obligation to any manufacture or retail store to pre-install the software.They only had to make sure any one who wanted to run it could run it.In a way this would not be to bad in a world driven on violence and porn this software might be the fabric softner for the internet.Lines are fading and as long as there is no law stating you have to use it i think its no better or worse the buying any OEM system here since they are loaded with crap any way.[/citation]
This guy/gal is right, at least for the time being. It is either to be pre-installed or offered on a disc, but you are allowed to disable it if you want.
This may change down the road, who knows when it comes to the Chinese government.
The problem I have with it, is that they are forcing manufacturers to bundle it with every new PC sold. Yes, PC manufacturers do pre-load their systems with bloat, but it is not required by the government as far as I know.
Let's be honest here though, the governemnt is pushing it as "child protection", however the software filters out non-chinese government friendly web sites as well. But what the government in China is promoting and what they actually intend to do, often do not match up.
And while the US Government, hell lets include any democratic or social democratic government in this statement, might do some shady actions, they do not go to the level that China does. While that is not an excuse, I'd still much rather live in the US, Canada, Japan or much of Europe over China. What is nice though is that the people of China, slowly over time, have been pushing back and forcing changes for the better. IMO, the chinese government is already grasping at straws and it won't be much longer until an actual revolution happens there. "Much longer" could be anywhere from a few years to 50 years as far as I can guess though.. I could be wrong of course, but hope I'm not. The sooner the better though, because as technology advances, the harder it'll be to actually revolt.
We're way past the ball and musket stage when the US revolted, not that it was easy then. However, back then your goverment couldn't spy on you with satellites, phone taps and technology I don't even want to think about. /shudder