"This administrative action lacks a legal basis.  Designating that the same software must be installed in all computers affects citizens' rights to choose," argues Li Fangping, a Beijing human rights advocate and Chinese lawyer.  He is causing a national stir by giving an official legal voice to challenges to the nation's firewall.

China has long blocked a variety of topics -- pornography, homosexual-themed websites (even those not of a pornographic nature), Tibetan movements, dissenting political views, and many news and media outlets that express opinions it does not like.  It is unique in that it has among the most internet users of any nation, yet it effectively has restricted what parts of the internet they can see.

Mr. Fangping, challenges the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to provide a public review of their new government demand which calls for all new computers to have internet filtering software installed.  The policy is set to take effect on July 1.

The state media has carefully marketed the "Green Dam" filtering software as a nationwide effort to prevent children from being exposed to pornography.  Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang states, "If you have children or are expecting a child you could understand the concerns of the parents over unhealthy online content."

However, its critics say it goes much farther and is just one more example of endemic violations of human rights and freedoms.  States Mr. Fangping, "Above all, we're concerned about freedom of speech and the right to know.  We know that citizens have been prosecuted because of their private emails, and we're worried about more such cases."

Gay advocacy groups are particularly frustrated at the legislation.  In recent years, gay community websites have flourished in China. However, under the new policies, they would likely be blocked.  Wan Yanhai, a leader of the Beijing-based Aizhixing organization, which works on AIDS and gay rights, is fighting the new policy.  Wan states, "We need to demand not just the lifting of this software decree, but also an end to restrictions on gay publications.  This is about opposing censorship."

China's internet users currently number in the millions and market research firm Gartner predicts 42 million computers will be sold in the nation this year.

Mr. Fangping says that part of the problem in challenging the policy is that China's ruling Communist Party is especially sensitive to challenges this year, the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy protests which ended in a bloody crackdown.  However, he believe there's hope to stop the policy, stating, "How the government responds in the end will depend on the response from Chinese Internet-users.  If it's strong, they'll back down, and may let the plan quietly die."