By Lin Meilian

The very people the controversial Green Dam filtering software is supposed to protect say they are unconcerned by the program, a new report claims.

A study initiated by the China Youth Internet Association and conducted by the Communication University of China claims over 80 percent of primary school students aged 6-12 are indifferent to the Green Dam software.

More than 4.2 percent of the 2,400 respondents said they were “unhappy” with the filtering project.

About 54 percent of the parents covered in the study agreed that the software could protect the nation’s youths from unhealthy Internet materials, while another 26 percent said they remain neutral, the report said.

“Family education plays an important role in guiding children’s Internet behavior. Parental guidance plus the State’s protection policy could help children use the Internet effectively,” Hao Xianghong, secretary-general of the China Youth Internet Association said.

The report also showed that 80 percent of children started using the Internet before the age of 9. Watching movies, playing online games, downloading music and studying were the main reasons for logging on, the young respondents said.

About 7 percent of respondents were deemed “addicted” to the Internet, the report said.
About 3 million of China’s 298 million Internet users are under 10 years old, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Concerns have been raised that harmful online information may corrupt young people, and the report attempted to see if that was true.

However, some questioned the report’s accountability.

“The survey cannot represent the (young) voices of all the netizens in China,” Zhang Yuqiang, a professor of modern communication at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times yesterday.

Zhang claimed that the attitude held by children towards Green Dam depended on their level
of intelligence.

However, “it’s hard to tell how much they know about the software,” he said.

The software, “Green Dam Youth Escort,” which cost 40 million yuan ($6 million) to develop and designed to block violence and pornographic content on the Internet. It sparked controversy when the Ministry of Industry and Technology ordered it to be installed in all new computers by July 1.

The installation order was delayed indefinitely due to the controversy.

Last week, the government backed down under mounting criticism and said installing the software was no longer mandatory for individual customers, but compulsory installation for computers in public places, such as Internet cafes,would go ahead.