BEIJING, CHINA: The plan of Chinese government to require makers of personal computers to ship Internet-filtering software with all new PCs, has stirred protest among the Internet users.

The news of two government-linked Chinese companies developing a software, 'Green Dam-Youth Escort', to help parents keep children from seeing pornography on the Internet was officially made public after the move was leaked to the media.

The government has made it mandatory that all PC makers must include the software with all PCs sold in China starting July 1.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, foreign industry executives, U.S. officials and Internet-freedom advocates say the software could extend the government's censorship powers and raise privacy and security concerns.

Though certain corners have described it as a noble effort, there are voices of dissent too. "Who is going to decide and make judgment about which Web sites are 'bad'?" wrote an Internet user on Tianya.cn, a prominent Internet forum in China.

Though the developer of the software has said it was not designed with the intention of collecting private data, users are worried that the new software could affect their privacy.

A company called Jinhui Computer System Engineering will be managing the list of blocked sites. According to the company's GM Chenmin Zhang, the list can be edited by the owner of the computer and additional search terms can also be blocked.

"If a father doesn't want his son to be exposed to content related to basketball or drugs, he can block all Websites related to those things," he explained.

Software giant Microsoft said the rule raised issues of freedom of expression, privacy and security that “need to be properly addressed”.

Admitting that the availability of appropriate parental control tools is an important societal consideration for industry and governments around the world, Microsoft said that the company is committed to helping advance the free flow of information and to encouraging transparency, deliberation and restraint with respect to Internet governance.

In the opinion of Ed Black, the president of Washington-based Computer and Communications Industry Association, though the move to block access to pornography sounded like an acceptable goal, there is the possibility of using the same technology to expand the censorship.

However, China meanwhile defended the move to use Web filter. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the new move is in accordance with the law. He added that the software “is aimed at blocking and filtering some unhealthy content, including pornography and violence”.

But the question is: What is unhealthy? Form the Tibetan protest to Olympic games to the anniversary of the bloodshed in Tianenmen Square, there are many instances when the government erected the 'great iron wall' to prevent the free flow of information. Do you think the new move is also part of a greater censorship move?