China’s recent war on pornography began when the government announced in May its intention to pay for the Green Dam Internet filtering software for one year after July 1, when all computer manufacturers would be required to include the software in all future sales. According to AsiaTimes, the government claims the provision is allowed under the Government Procurement Law.

Since then, China has received complaints concerning everything from the security of the software to the non-transparency of the bidding process, noting that individuals would pay for updates after the allotted year.

Computer experts have found multiple problems with Green Dam, including a flaw that allows hackers to remotely control any computer with the software installed.

Many argue that the filtering software is a guise to filter out political content, though others claim that, to China, pornography is political. In this way, China sees pornography and political opposition equivalently; that is, needing suppression.

Conflict with Google came when CCTV, a state-owned television monopoly, broadcasted criticism of Google for suggesting “abnormal relationship between son and mother” when typing the word “son.” The show also featured a man advertised as a university student, describing his porn-addled friend and the harmful effects on his concentration.

This criticism only increased outrage at the government, however. Google’s suggestions work based on the most popular searches. It was later learned that no one had entered the phrase “abnormal relationship between son and mother” until just days before the show, when it suddenly became popular in Beijing. Furthermore, the university student was found to be an intern at CCTV.

Even so, China has repeatedly asked Google to tighten its filtering of pornography and other content. Frustrated by what they considered to be a slow response, China temporarily suspended Google.com and Gmail, while Google.cn was still available.

While Google has since removed more pornography websites, China released an announcement just one day before July 1, that the Green Dam requirement would be postponed due to complaints of short notice. Some, but not all, Asia-based manufacturers have been relatively compliant, while most Western companies have adopted a wait-and-see approach.