22 business organizations have sent a letter to Premier Wen Jiabao, appealing to the Chinese government to drop the requirement that every PC sold inside China come pre-installed with the Green Dam-Youth Escort Internet filter by July 1. From Loretta Chao at The Wall Street Journal:
An international group of business associations that includes most of the world’s major technology companies submitted a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urging the government to scrap a requirement that personal computers come with Internet-filtering software.
Submitted Friday, the letter was signed by the heads of 22 organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the European-American Business Council, the Information Technology Industry Council and other associations from North America, Europe, and Japan.
[…]The letter, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal, says the plan “raises serious concerns for us and seems to run counter to China’s important goal of becoming a vibrant and dynamic information-based society.”
[…]So far, the government has shown no signs of backing down. There is a risk that the letter could make it difficult for Mr. Wen to intervene, because he might risk being seen as siding with foreign companies against members of his own government.
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