China Software filter will be optional

BEIJING, CHINA: China will leave it to individual computer users whether to install a controversial content filtering system. But the system will be installed on computers in any public place, China's minister of Industry and Information Technology has said.

China announced earlier this year that it planned compulsory installation of the Green Dam-Youth Escort software, ostensibly meant to protect young online users from pornography.

The installation was postponed on June 30. Minister Li Yizhong said Thursday that his ministry was still working on its plans and that the Green Dam software was also being upgraded, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

"Installation is intended to block violent and pornographic content on the Internet to protect children," Li said, according to Xinhua. "Any move to politicize the issue or to attack China's Internet management system is irresponsible and not in line with reality."

Businesses and computer users complained that the software left computers open to cyber attacks, while others worried that the software represented government interference in the free flow of information.