TIMELINE-Previous Chinese high-tech skirmishes over censorship
June 12 (Reuters) - China's tough stance on Web censorship and promoting its own technologies has put it at odds with Western technology firms on several occasions in recent years.
The latest of those has pitted PC makers against a government that says it's intent on keeping pornography out of the hands of China's youth, though many believe the move could involve censorship and invasion of privacy.
Google (GOOG.O), Yahoo (YHOO.O) and Intel (INTC.O) have all faced similar past issues in one of the world's fastest growing, but also most highly censored, markets.
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2004 - INTEL AND CHINESE WI-FI
In 2004, China began requiring all wireless network equipment makers to use a homegrown encryption standard that was different from the Wi-Fi standard most were using internationally.
The policy meant companies that wanted to sell wireless gear in China would have to work with a fixed number of Chinese firms chosen by the government, a move some feared could lead to loss of proprietary information and was anti-competitive.
After howls of protest by many foreign gear makers, the world's largest chipmaker Intel said it wouldn't support the Chinese standard, choosing instead to stop selling one of its chips with built-in wireless networking capabilities.
China and Intel later came to a truce that allowed use of both the Chinese and international standards in China.
2005 - YAHOO HANDS OVER EMAIL RECORDS
Shi Tao, 37, a business journalist based in China, was jailed for 10 years after he used his Yahoo account to forward an email from the Chinese government requesting the country's media not write about the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Yahoo in Hong Kong had complied with an order to hand over records that would identify the sender, a move that led to a raid on Shi's home and confiscation of his computer.
Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang was summoned to a Congressional hearing, where furious lawmakers chastised him for Yahoo's actions and Yang was made to apologise to Shi's parents.
2006 - GOOGLE'S GREAT FIREWALL
Google agreed to adhere to Chinese Internet policies on its China Website, Google.cn, when it launched the site in 2006, blocking access to certain sites on sensitive matters like the 1989 Tiananmen protests and Taiwanese or Tibetan independence.
The move drew criticism back home in the United States from rights groups including Reporters without Borders, and company executives were called up by Congress to justify their decision.
Google explained that all searches on the Chinese site would make clear that access to certain Websites was being blocked, and that the majority of users in China were using its international version anyway.
2009 - PC MAKERS TOLD TO CENSOR THE WEB
Earlier this week, computer makers were told that all of their PCs sold in China from July 1 will need to be pre-installed with what Beijing says is anti-smut software, a move it says is necessary to protect the country's young Internet surfers.
Most PC brands such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), Dell (DELL.O) and Acer (2353.TW) have said that they are currently examining the new regulations with their industry partners, and will see how best to comply. (Reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Doug Young)
