Porn filter will not pull plug

BEIJING -Web users will continue to receive technical support and customer service for the Green Dam Youth Escort software filter, despite government funding having stopped more than a year ago, the software developer said on Wednesday.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) paid the developers 41.7 million yuan ($6.2 million) in 2008, to fund the costs of developing the software and providing technical support for one year.

"We thought the MIIT would renew the contract to carry on funding us, but they did not," said Chen Xiaomeng, general manager of Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy, which developed the Green Dam software with the assistance of Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering.