Green Dam Gets the Red Light

China’s youth must face the corrupting influence of Internet porn without government guidance for a brief while longer. The Chinese government said Tuesday it will delay enforcing a new requirement that all new computers sold in the country include Green Dam/Youth Escort Web-filtering software. The postponement comes just one day before the July 1 deadline for the software to be deployed.

It’s not yet clear whether Beijing delayed the order because PC makers were having trouble supplying all new machines with the program or in reaction to the international outcry over it. In a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last week, an international group of business associations that includes most of the world’s major technology companies, called upon China to abandon the plan, which it said “raises serious concerns for us and seems to run counter to China’s important goal of becoming a vibrant and dynamic information-based society.”