US slams IT giants over "Great Firewall" of China
Thursday, 02 Feb 2006 07:57
Science In Focus
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Congressmen today slammed America's most successful IT firms for helping Beijing to censor the internet in China, trading freedom of speech for bigger profits.
Members of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus heard expert evidence that Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco Systems assisted China's cyber police in censoring the internet.
Rep. Tom Lantos was scathing in his condemnation of the four companies, that he said had "caved in to Beijing for the sake of profits".
"Companies that have blossomed and make millions in this country, a country that reveres freedom of speech, have chosen to ignore that core value in expanding their reach overseas and erect a Great Firewall to suit Beijing," he told the caucus.
Though invited, none of the four firms were attended the informal hearing, convened after Google's decision last month to block items from its Chinese site that China's government would find politically sensitive.
In a joint statement Microsoft and Yahoo said that they were powerless to pressure China to change, but emphasised that their services allowed Chinese people to gain "far wider access to independent sources of information."
China currently employs 30,000 cyber police to enforce a strict code of acceptable content on the internet, blocking references to human rights activists, dissidents and protests such as the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Internet expert Carolyn Bartholomew told the hearing that the Chinese authorities are changing the internet to suit their purposes, and are exporting censorship tools to other "oppressive regimes" like North Korea and Uzbekistan.
Congress is due to hold a more formal hearing on February 16th in front of the House of Representatives subcommittee on Global Human Rights.
