中国媒体博克

Or so, at least, claims the China Daily:

Despite a last-minute delay in implementing Green Dam internet-filtering software, China's authorities and its PC manufacturers said Wednesday they expect the tool will end up on new computers.

One day after the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) declared a postponement to the July 1 start date for the mandatory inclusion of "Green Dam-Youth Escort" porn filtering software, an MIIT official said it was only "a matter of time" before the directive took effect.

"The government will definitely carry on the directive on Green Dam. It's just a matter of time," he told China Daily on condition of anonymity.

An earlier directive to all PC makers on May 19 said the pre-installation of the filtering software would be mandatory on July 1 for any new PC produced or sold in China.

The official said issues around potential copyright infringement were not behind the delay – it was simply because some computer manufacturers needed more time.

"What will happen is that some PC manufacturers will have it included with their PC packages sooner than the others," he said. "But there is no definite deadline at the moment."

Domestic PC giants, including Lenovo Group, Tsinghua Tongfang, Founder Technology Group and Haier Group, said Wednesday they will "install the filter as they were told". But some manufacturers have included a disclaimer with new PCs, saying they would not be responsible for damage caused by Green Dam.

Well, we'll see.

Reading the above, Imagethief wonders if one compromise solution that might emerge from this is for local PC manufacturers, such as those named above, to end up including the software while foreign manufacturers are allowed, in practice if not in law, to take a pass. I can't imagine that local manufacturers would much like that.

Also, did you note the comment from "the official"? The delay has nothing to do with the copyright issues, security problems, or general shoddy state of the software. It's solely the fault of ill-prepared PC makers caught with their pants down. This was the face-saving message in the official communication issued two days ago as well. It's interesting to see it getting further play.

Previously on Imagethief:

• Why I'm not in a tizzy over China's new Internet filtering software (June, 2009)
• Communication is the real lesson from the Green Dam Youth Escort fiasco (June, 2009)
• Green Dam Youth Escort vanishes faster than predicted (July, 2009)