BANGALORE, INDIA: All personal computers sold in China must have the "Green Dam" Internet filter installed from July 1, a move the Chinese Government says "is to protect Chinese youth from pornography".

However, the China's move has come under criticism by critics who view the whole exercise as a form of censorship. CIOL made an attempt to find out what this Internet filtering software is all about.

Here are a few important features of 'Green Dam':

• It's a web filter software was developed by Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., with input from Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy Co.
• Bryan Zhang, founder of Jinhui, said Green Dam operates similarly to software designed outside China to let parents block access to Web content inappropriate for children.
• Some computers sold in China already come with parental-control software, but it isn't government-mandated.
• According to Jinhui its software compiles and maintains the list of blocked sites, which it says is limited to pornography sites.
• The software would allow the blocking of other types of content, as well as the collection of private user data, but that Jinhui would have no reason to do so.
• According to the company the software can be turned off or uninstalled.
• The company plans to transmit new banned addresses to users' PCs through an Internet update system similar to that used by operating-system software and anti-virus programs.
• The software requirement was outlined in a notice that was issued by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on May 19.
• The notice says PC producers will be required to report to the government how many PCs they have shipped with the software.
• The notice doesn't mention any punitive action for noncompliance.