The Green Dam filtering program has been put on hold by the Chinese government.  Online casinos and internet freedom groups are sighing with relief.  It is not yet clear exactly why the Chinese government choose to delay the program, but very few are complaining about the decision.

Under the decree initially issued by the Chinese government all personal computers sold on the market in China where to be fitted with the Green Dam software.  The Green Dam software was a filtering system that would updated regularly by the Chinese government to shield its citizens from material it found objectionable.  Material certain to be on the Chinese government black list would be online casinos, pornography, and any content the government found politically objectionable.

Even the United States go involved in protests against the Green Dam program.  Top trade officials from the United States warned the Chinese that this filtering program might constitute a trade barrier.

The program was supposed to take affect tomorrow on July 1^st, 2009, but it was unexpectedly postponed mere hours before it took affect.  No reason was given why the decrees was postponed specifically, nor was there any news as to whether this was a temporary postponement or permanent abandonment of the project.

“I think the cost of the move from trade friction and generally a public relations black eye was becoming pretty clear to the government,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China Ltd., a Beijing research firm.

The postponement “gets them out of the scrutiny of the international media and business.”