Green Dam Shuts Beijing Office
Beijing Times, 7/13/10
An industry source revealed last Friday that the Beijing office of Green Dam Youth Escort, the internet filtering software that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) ordered installed on all Chinese computers last summer, has been closed. The project, jointly run by Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy and Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering, employed nearly 30 staff in Beijing who were responsible for promoting the software and maintaining its official site. The Zhengzhou office is responsible for the software's technology and after-sales service.
Dazheng GM Chen Xiaomeng admitted that Green Dam's Beijing project office closed last month, dismissing its nearly 30 employees.
Chen explained that the Green Dam project was established in May 2008 by the combination of two filtering products from Dazheng and Jinhui that both won government bids, for which the MIIT would pay RMB 41.7 mln.
Chen told reporters that the office for the Beijing project team required over RMB 7 mln in annual operating expenses, and the Beijing office had already relocated once prior to closing. "We really couldn't keep it going anymore," said Chen. "Many employees already quit on their own, and we finally had no choice but to shut it down."
Reporters contacted the MIIT for news on the developments, but had not received a reply at time of print.
Customer service representatives at Green Dam's Zhengzhou office told reporters that operations continued normally. One employee at Zhengzhou Jinhui said that the Green Dam project has still not received payment from the government after a year, and that the project would be hard pressed to continue much longer if payment continues to be delayed.
Green Dam Youth Escort currently has over 20 mln users, mainly parents of students, schools, and internet cafes.
Editor's Note: TechWeb reported that Dazheng GM Chen Xiaoming later refuted the above report, saying that while Green Dam has stopped using the Beijing office, Green Dam service will continue uninterrupted, and that reports that over 30 employees were dismissed and that 20 mln Green Dam users are left without technical support are false. Chen said the company plans to issue a statement.
Keywords: Chen Xiaomeng Internet software users Dazheng Green Dam Jinhui HR monitoring youth
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