US complains to China over internet censorship

The US lodged an official complaint to China over new internet censorship rules in a rare intervention over internet freedom, the Financial Times reported. China has ordered PC makers to include internet filtering software – known as Green Dam – with all PCs sold in China starting on July 1. Last week, China ordered Google to block access to foreign sites through its Chinese search engine Google.cn. State media said Google was being punished for providing links to pornographic material. Industry insiders told the paper that the move was intended to distract attention from Green Dam as well as curtail Google’s growth in China. Google had recently made gains against local internet search firm Baidu.