Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

China's technology ministry moved to tighten controls on Internet use Tuesday, saying individuals who want to operate Web sites must first meet in person with regulators.

The state-sanctioned group that registers domain names in China froze registrations for new individual Web sites in December after state media complained that not enough was being done to check whether sites provided pornographic content.

When China's authoritarian leaders are on top of their game, they can make awesome feats look breathlessly easy, lacing the coasts with bullet trains, throwing up vast airports seemingly overnight, plopping scores of power plants on the landscape like some giant farmer setting out rice shoots.

When they are off their game, it becomes apparent that managing a billion-plus people is not easy at all, even with near-absolute power.

Internet users in China celebrated the government's about-face on the Green Dam Web-filtering software with a party Wednesday in a Beijing café.

The event was originally planned to coincide with an Internet boycott planned for the day China had mandated that all new PCs sold in China must have Green Dam. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology abruptly postponed the July 1 deadline on Tuesday, giving the protesters an unexpected victory. The ministry did not say when, if ever, a new deadline might be set.

Paris Hilton we understand -- but Garfield? China's mandated Green Dam software rates some images of the scantily clad heiress and the cartoon cat as morally bad.

While the software that must be installed on all new PCs sold in China is meant to block pornography and violent images, it also blocks other things. Besides Garfield, actor Johnny Depp and roast port are also no-nos.

China is sticking to its planned launch of a controversial Internet censoring software in about one week, an official newspaper said Tuesday, despite Washington's concerns over the move's possible impact on trade and access to information.

The China Daily said the plan to require the Web-filtering Green Dam Youth Escort software on all personal computers sold in China starting July 1 remains unchanged, citing an unnamed source from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is to be pre-installed or included on a compact disc with all PCs sold in China.

Facing a barrage of international criticism, the Chinese government is apparently backing down from its earlier announcement that all PCs sold in the country must have censoring software installed.

According to an anonymous official in the government's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), it's "misleading" to say that China is requiring PC owners to use the software.

China appeared to cave in to public pressure Tuesday by announcing that computer users are not required to install Internet-filtering software -- though it will still come with all PCs sold on the mainland.

A Ministry of Industry and Information Technology official reached by telephone told The Associated Press that use of the "Green Dam Youth Escort" software is "not compulsory." He would not give his name as is customary with Chinese officials.

Microsoft's new "decision engine" Bing may help users get through clutter on the Internet to make better decisions, but officials in China have made it clear that the software behemoth has failed at one decision: to make snippets of sexually explicit material available in search results.

Bing includes a small video-preview feature called smart motion preview, which plays videos when a user navigates over it. The feature, while convenient for some, has landed Microsoft in hot water with some child-advocacy groups, including Virginia-based Enough is Enough.

Personal computers sold in China will have to include blocking software, beginning July 1. The directive from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing has gone to manufacturers, but hasn't been made public.

The directive aims to block users from specific sites and content, including pornography, according to Jinhui Computer Systems Engineering, the software maker. But foreign industry officials who viewed the software told The Wall Street Journal the move will give the Chinese government even more control over what users are viewing on the Internet.

Personal computers sold in China will have to include blocking software, beginning July 1. The directive from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing has gone to manufacturers, but hasn't been made public.

The directive aims to block users from specific sites and content, including pornography, according to Jinhui Computer Systems Engineering, the software maker. But foreign industry officials who viewed the software told The Wall Street Journal the move will give the Chinese government even more control over what users are viewing on the Internet.