Political Cues in China Web Filter

BEIJING - Web-filtering software that the Chinese government will require on all new personal computers includes data files containing political keywords and Web addresses, suggesting it could block more than just pornography, say people who have studied the program.

A notice sent to PC makers last month said they must include the software with all new PCs shipped in China as of July 1. Chinese officials and the main developer of the software have said the purpose of the software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, is to enable parents to prevent their children from viewing online pornography. But foreign industry officials and free-speech advocates have criticized the plan as an effort by Beijing to expand its censorship powers.

Isaac Mao, a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, said Green Dam data files have a broad range of political content, "much more than Falun Gong," the banned spiritual group.

Mr. Mao, who has seen the program's coding, said the words in the lists aren't necessarily blocked by the software. He said the blocking will appear inconsistent to users because the program includes mechanisms that activate and deactivate various functions. The software also appears to communicate with a centralized server, he said.

Shi Zhao, a prominent Beijing blogger, said he found data files with Chinese phrases such as "6-4 massacre" -- a reference to the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4, 1989 -- and "the celebration of Tibetan people."

Keyword documents in the software related to political content "are very big -- much, much bigger than those related to pornographic content," Mr. Shi said.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which issued the Green Dam requirement, didn't respond to requests to comment.

Wang Jingcheng, deputy general manager of Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy Co., the developer responsible for Green Dam's keyword technology, declined to comment on reports the software blocks political content. He said earlier that it would block content "according to the law."

Bryan Zhang, founder of Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., the primary developer of Green Dam, said the software serves no purpose other than filtering pornography. He said Jinhui compiled and maintains the list of blocked Web sites. "I know what is on my own blacklist," he said. Mr. Zhang declined to share the contents of the list of blocked sites, arguing that doing so would "promote" the Web sites.

Industry officials have also expressed concerns that the software could expose computers to viruses, or worse. Researchers at the University of Michigan, in a preliminary investigation, found programming errors creating "serious vulnerabilities that allow any Web site the user visits to take control of the PC," said J. Alex Halderman, a professor involved in the tests.

The government continued its defense of the software requirement on Thursday. State-run broadcaster China Central Television publicized a newspaper report that said a "vast number of parents and experts welcome the preinstalled green Internet surfing software."

But commentaries in prominent publications have expressed other views. On the Web site of the Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, a Peking University journalism professor, Xie Xinzhou, said blocking and filtering content shows the government is "treating all Internet users as children."

(the article was originally published at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124474567529507107.html)

Google and Music Labels Bet on Downloads in China

SHANGHAI — Can global music companies make money by giving away songs in China, where piracy is rampant?

They certainly hope so. Last Monday, the world’s biggest record labels, including EMI, the Warner Music Group and Vivendi’s Universal Music, said they would seek to profit here by working with Google and offering free downloads of music to anyone inside China.

Google, which has no plans to offer the service elsewhere, hopes to build traffic and win new advertisers by allowing the Chinese to search for free music on its site.

Record labels say that instead of earning money from each download, they will share advertising revenue with Google’s partner in the deal, a Chinese company called Top100.cn.

The partnership, analysts say, could help determine the future of how valuable content is distributed in China, which has already overtaken the United States as the world’s biggest Internet market.

Until now, China has been a hotbed of online piracy and free downloads of music, film and even television shows.

According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, which represents the global record makers, 99 percent of the music downloaded in China violates copyrights.

Lawsuits by major music labels and promises by the Chinese government to crack down on Internet piracy have failed to deter the practices.

But now, the music industry says that, at least in China, it can live with giving away music.

“The level of online advertising in China is quite mature, so we’re willing to try this out,” said Sandy Monteiro, a senior vice president at the Universal Music Group.

The deal creates a powerful tandem — the world’s biggest online search and advertising engine, paired with powerhouses from the music industry —aiming to take on China’s leading search engine, Baidu, whose Web traffic has grown partly because of its links to free, unlicensed music.

Global record labels have sued Baidu, trying to force the company to stop linking to unlicensed sites. But Baidu, which declined to be interviewed for this article, has said it is simply a search engine and does not engage in piracy.

With its popular searches, Baidu has managed to keep far ahead of Google in China, with a search market share approaching 65 percent.

But analysts say Google could be significantly aided by the new music partnership.

“It’s a smart move for Google,” said Ma Xiushan, deputy director general of the China Intellectual Property Society in Beijing. “Google has realized the point: they have to open the access for downloading so that they can compete with Chinese competitors and attract more users.”

Google executives say they acted because a music search function was one of the few elements they did not have in China.

According to government figures, about 84 percent of China’s nearly 300 million Internet users download music over the Web, and most of it is used for cellphone ring tones.

Google hopes that by offering free, high-quality music — giving consumers fewer worries about viruses or damaged tracks — it can cut into Baidu’s lead.

For the music industry, which believes it has lost hundreds of millions of dollars to online piracy, the deal promises to deliver a steady stream of revenue and could also put pressure on Baidu and other Chinese Internet companies to distribute legitimate tracks or risk being locked out of future deals.

Not everyone believes it will work.

“Google’s move is just burning money to compete with Baidu’s dominance,” said Guo Chunlong, founder of yobo.com, a music and entertainment Web site. “Sharing ad revenues with music companies — this business model is not sustainable. How many page views could generate the money both Google and the music companies expect?”

Music executives dispute that. But they say the China deal is not a model for the rest of the world. They say different regions call for different approaches — some that charge for downloads, some that stream music for a single subscription price and some that are supported by advertising.

In China, they decided an advertising-supported model was best.

“China was a curious place,” said Mr. Monteiro at Universal Music. “It was the one market we couldn’t crack. And then Google approached us about this model.”

Erik Zhang, one of the founders of Top100.cn, said advertising-supported free downloads were just the first of several stages in the proposed deal.

The partners say they could broaden offerings to include paid V.I.P. memberships, free concert tickets or backstage passes and other benefits.

But one thing is clear: Google and its partners want to limit this experiment to China.

For instance, the site — which will eventually offer about 1.1 million tracks — is in Chinese, and only Internet addresses based in China can download free music. Could China’s clever pirates download this music free and then swap it or sell it in other parts of the world, possibly undermining the system?

Last week, for example, a user downloaded a music track in China and easily shipped it to a friend in London.

Music producers said customers might try this, but they are trying to put up legal and technical hurdles to such ploys.

“We’ll definitely need to watch it,” Mr. Monteiro, of Universal Music, said.