Comments on: Expert: China's Green Dam software is unsafe

Poor programming practices in Chinese-mandated Green Dam filtering software put users at risk of compromise, security expert says.

[Moonea]

i really dont thik it ll stop the mass

[sharmajunior]

I want the Chinese gov't to forcefully install the software..one reason is because that it would potentially create the biggest BOTNET in the world.

Which could eventually lead to the demise of the internet in China....All who are with me say: Yay

[unknown unknown]

Except the attacks of such a botnet probably would not be confined to China. So assuming that what you suggest is a desirable out come, and I am not sure that it is, there would be a lot of collateral damage.

[lvcsslacker]

I say let it be vulnerable. If they're so damned worried about letting content though, lets see what happens when their entire computer network shuts down.

[bananaphonerules]

Maybe they should have spent more time on security rather than making a skin for the app?

[silverhawk01]

The Chinese can not dictate how the rest of the normal world views and receives it's information. Are they trying to hide the truth about a corrupt government, human rights violations, and censorship from the free world or the the Chinese population?

And these are the same people who protested to Microsoft that all their illegal and pirated copies of Windows no longer worked because of a security change in Windows Update. They demanded the update be removed because they claimed their country would be in turmoil with out up to date computers and software.

[anakin2006]

@silverhawk01

can you tell me how a software which can filter out the porn sites has anything to do with those political accusations you listed?

[man_w_balls]

CIA and NSA hackers and the like are probably salivating at the thought of millions or more Chinese PCs with unsecure software for them to hack. Whoever has the best hackers can own the computers of China....

[Vegaman_Dan]

What operating system is the screen shot from or did they just reskin an existing one?

[malcarada]

I wonder what happens to that software when you wipe Windows and install Linux.

[benjwah]

Chinese officials bust down your door and beat the crap out of you. Ironically, in most cases I'd disagree with such heavy-handed tactics, but in the case of most Linux users, I'd be happy to have them "disappear" and be "re-educated".

[Dalkorian]

What an interesting choice of words benjwah. Winblows nazi?

[gerrrg]

The vulnerability is by design. This way, they can use the Chinese citizens to attack the US or any other nation's cyber infrastructure.

[irdac]

It also means that any other organisation can take over the PCs for other nefarious purposes

[Zarland]

Judging from the screen shot, it seems the users can choose the content that they want to block or unblock. If this is the case, this is no more than a mandatory filter solfware that must be bundled with the computer. So it might be like the V chip our tv, it's in there whether you like it or not.

[Daddio2009]

This a a tactical move on the part of the Chinese government to enable them to attack the US with a massive catastrophic network overload - anytime they want to. Our response should be to not allow ANY computers built in China to be imported to the US...and to make sure we can sever the telecoms pipes and satellites out of China at a moment's notice.

[anakin2006]

@Daddio2009

please, for god's sake, read the news:

he content-filtering software the Chinese government wants installed on all PCs sold in that country beginning next week was poorly developed and puts users at risk of having their computers compromised, a security expert who examined the code said on Thursday.

[n3td3v]

Chinese government already produce tons of hardware with malware embedded in it that they sell to the west, they don't need Green Dam to produce a bot net.

[n3td3v]

It's the Chinese government who produce military software to the U.S government, think about it, do they really need Green Dam to produce a bot net, they already have tons of attack vectors that have been in place for years.

http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=4524.2780.0.0

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38713&dcn=todaysnews

[KenjiK]

Honestly, why should I care if Chinese communist computers are vulnerable? The Chinese have attacked the US and other countries often enough.

[sinopeach]

Why are Americans so afraid of China? And why are you all so happy to show your ignorance of current and historical geopolitical fact by piping up here like a bunch of rabid morons?

Don't worry - each year more tech jobs go to China and India which is where they belong. No wonder google wants more visas to import labour when this is the intellectual standard they have to deal with back home.

Crikey.

[sneakysnake128]

What'd you expect? It's made by a government. Of course it's going to be inefficient.