Computer makers have been told by the government that all personal computers sold from July 1 must be shipped with anti-pornography software, a move that a US trade group called a bid by Beijing to further tighten Internet controls.

But a government notice on the new rule remains contradictory, unclear, and contains no information on enforcement, said analyst Liu Ming of BDA China, a Beijing Internet consultancy.

"My understanding is that this software may not be targeting politically sensitive websites, which the government has already had some tools in place to control," said Liu, who said he downloaded and examined the software.

"It mainly targets harmful content that affects the youth."

The government notice said "Green Dam Youth Escort" software must be "pre-installed" on new computers. However, it later said the software could be included merely on a separate disc as a non-mandatory install.

Reports of the move sparked outrage in the United States.

Ed Black, president of the US Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), called the rule "an escalation of attempts to limit access and the freedom of the Internet."

Software giant Microsoft, whose product runs on most of the world's computers, said the requirement raised issues of freedom of expression, privacy, and security which "need to be properly addressed."

But Bryan Zhang, chief executive of Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., which helped design the software, said it was his understanding it would not need to be pre-installed on the computer hard drive.

Zhang said he did not understand why providing a copy of commercially available software that anyone can download free on the Internet had stirred up such controversy.

"It is totally optional. If you don't want to use it you don't have to," said Zhang, speaking from his company's home city of Zhengzhou.

China has the world's largest online population at nearly 300 million web users, and authorities have a history of blocking websites they deem politically unacceptable or offensive, a censorship system that has been dubbed the "Great firewall of China".

If made mandatory, the software rule could significantly strengthen that ability.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the new rule, quoted unnamed foreign industry officials who examined the software saying it could transmit personal information, crash computers or make them vulnerable to hacking.

But Liu said his examination turned up no signs of privacy risks.

Still, the news displeased Chinese web-users already frustrated by government Internet restrictions and worried about being watched online.

An online poll Tuesday by Sina.com found that 81 percent of respondents felt the move threatened their privacy, while nearly 72 percent thought it would be ineffective in preventing youths accessing pornography.

Charles Mok, chairman of the Hong Kong chapter of the Internet Society, a nonprofit organisation promoting the open development of the Internet, said the move could turn out to be a non-issue if the software comes on a separate disk.

Even if pre-installed, it could simply be uninstalled by computer novices.

"So it is not 100 percent fool-proof, but the idea is that as long as the majority of people are deterred from accessing certain sites, that's the objective," Mok said.

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