China has announced a mandatory measure that would have all computers sold in the country to get software installed that would filter the internet locally which is not surprising for they have been monitoring and screening the internet for quite sometime. China has long been blocking access to the many social and news web sites in what they say is a measure that upholds the law, something the rest of the world sees as a continuing repression of the right to information.
The younger generation of China have known in advance ,for example about the anniversary of the Tienanmen Massacre and have adopted unique ways to get around the web site blocking events the country enforces by using coded messages through the most popular gaming platforms. Mobile browsers are also being blocked and access to the site itself is restricted with plain clothes police using umbrellas to block the view of international press trying to film and commemorate the event.
The move has been seen as a continuing repression of the right to know and the program has been seen to greatly influence the function of the computer, eating up lots of resources such as processing power and memory in tasks that should’ve been straightforward and fast such as browsing. The reaction of the people of China remains to be seen as the mandatory government program goes to effect in the coming months, how it turns out, can be anybody’s guess.