BEIJING — Following a stern admonishment from the Chinese government, Google has agreed to remove pornographic search results from its Chinese portal.
As previously reported, Google.cn was accused of "disseminating pornographic and vulgar information."
According to AppScout, Google issued a statement that it will be "undertaking a thorough review of our service and taking all necessary steps to fix any problems with our results."
Meanwhile, the U.S. government has issued an official protest over China's mandate to have all PCs loaded with state-sanctioned Green Dam filtering software.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. is concerned about any attempt by a nation to restrict the free flow of information, reports the Financial Times.
The State Department called the move to filter Web content “incompatible with China’s aspirations” to continue on a path to becoming a contemporary, information-based society.
China's latest tech policy has come under fire since the announcement that as of July 1, all computers sold in the country must include the software.
According to Bloomberg news, 19 trade groups, including the American Chamber of Commerce in China and the Business Software Alliance, have asked the Chinese government to review the mandate, which creates “questions of security, privacy, system reliability, the free flow of information and user choice.”
The Green Dam software has been accused of creating computer security holes and hampering operating systems. It's also been called an out-and-out government spy tool because it burrows deep in a system and also links all computers with the installed software to a centralized site containing a government-authorized block list.
"We hope that China will look at the broad array of concerns that the Green Dam mandate has prompted from its own citizens, from global PC companies, and from other governments, and revoke this measure," said an Obama administration official, reports Reuters.
As of last week, it appeared as though China might be backing off mandatory filter installation.
For more on China and Green Dam software, see the AVN.com news archives.
