A CHINESE plan requiring all new computers to carry internet filtering software has caused a widespread public outcry, with critics saying the plan is intrusive and ultimately ineffective.

Officially the government is promoting the “Green Dam-Youth Escort” software as a way of shielding children from “harmful” content such as pornography, but many Chinese fear it will be used to stop debate on sensitive issues.

Under the plan, the software will be shipped with every new PC and users will be required to install it. On the face of it, the “Green Dam-Youth Escort” software looks like an addition to the already extensive armoury of filtering systems that make up the Great Firewall of China, used to block material on issues such as Tibetan independence and the banned Falun Gong movement.

Beijing human rights lawyer Li Fangping questioned the “lawfulness and reasonableness” of the demand. “This administrative action lacks a legal basis. Designating that the same software must be installed in all computers affects citizens’ rights to choose,” Mr Li wrote in a submission to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

There have even been complaints in the state media, with the China Youth Daily running an editorial questioning the government’s right to force its way into the private life of the populace. The People’s Daily has also been critical of the plan.

A group of NGOs representing China’s homosexual community issued a joint statement calling on the government not to introduce the programme, which would automatically block web pages that contain certain homosexual content.