BEIJING: The designers of controversial Internet filtering software that China has ordered shipped with all new computers said they were trying to fix security glitches in the programme.

"Yes we are trying to fix it. But this is normal. Any software has bugs," Bryan Zhang, head of Jinhui Computer System Engineering, told AFP.

The code problems are the latest blow to the plan to include the filtering software with all PCs sold here from July 1, which has been criticised overseas and even in China as a bid at mass censorship and a threat to personal privacy.

The government says the Green Dam Youth Escort software is a vital tool needed to prevent young people from having access to pornographic websites.

Chinese authorities have a history of blocking sites that feature porn or politically unacceptable subjects such as the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests in 1989 and the banned spiritual group Falungong.

Last week, researchers at the University of Michigan who examined the software said it contained serious security vulnerabilities that could allow outside parties to take control of computers running it via remote access.

It also added that the software's text filter blocked words that included obscenities and phrases considered politically sensitive to China's ruling Communist Party.

"Other parties can say what they want. But I don't care what they say," Zhang said, declining further comment.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice to computer makers saying the software could either be pre-installed or included with PCs on a separate disc, and that users were not required to use it.

The move received an unusual amount of criticism in the state media last week.

An online poll by popular Chinese portal Sina.com last week found 81 per cent of respondents felt the move threatened their privacy, while nearly 72 per cent thought it would be ineffective in keeping youths from viewing pornography.

China has the world's largest online population at nearly 300 million Web users. 

(Source: AFP)