Porn-filtering software: It's up to users

Computer makers are required to include a government-sponsored porn-filtering software but it is up to buyers to decide whether they want to use it, an official said yesterday.

"PC makers are only required to save the setup files of the program in the hard drives of the computers, or provide CD-ROMs containing the program with their PC packages," an official at the department of software service in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), who spoke on condition of anonymity, told China Daily yesterday.

The users have the final say on the installation of the Green Dam-Youth Escort, so it is misleading to say the government compels PC users to use the software, the official clarified.