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It looks like Chinese computer buyers - and perhaps the security sector and people all over the world - aren't safe from Green Dam, after all. Although it looked like the Chinese government was going to give up on the censorship software, officials have now said they're just delaying, not canceling, its release.
The Green Dam Youth Escort software is, as the name implies, supposed to protect children (from accessing porn). Which could be all right, although universal implementation would still be controversial. (The Chinese government wants Green Dam installed on just about every computer in the country).
Only Green Dam is likely to block certain political and news sites, and make it easier for the Chinese government to monitor dissident activity, too. So human rights groups have gotten involved.
Of course, at this point, the software's existence would still be just one nation's problem.
But here's the scary part: the Green Dam software appears to be extremely vulnerable to attack, and if someone or something exploited it, Bruce Schneier pointed out to Tom Espiner, "Suddenly you have an army of a couple of billion computers. This should worry all of us."
Indeed, such a botnet would pose a threat to everything from companies to banks to governments. Some random hacker could bring the world to its knees.
And according to an anonymous Chinese official, it's inevitable that the Green Dam initiative will take effect. He told China Daily, "The government will definitely carry on the directive on Green Dam. It's just a matter of time."
But perhaps, given the massive number of people who are presumably working on Green Dam, most of the holes will get plugged and other issues will be addressed in real time. Or maybe - although the ethics of this would be rather gray - international parties will be able to contribute solutions and help prevent a major incident.
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