Curiosity about a new filtering software almost killed the developer's website yesterday as hordes of netizens logged on to find out more about the program, which will soon be mandatory in all new computers sold on the mainland.

The "Green Dam" software is designed to block "websites with unhealthy content such as pornography and violence".

One Web user who installed the "Green Dam" yesterday discovered that as soon as the software was launched, searches and links to websites that contain pornography, violence and drug trafficking were blocked.