Cisco, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft face and defend the U.S. Congress: censorship in China is tremendous, but inevitable. And call for the creation of a World League to protect freedom of expression online.
The censorship in China? "A terrible thing, but impossible to avoid," said spokesman Yahoo! on the day of the confrontation with Committee for International Affairs U.S. federal parliament. "To be in compliance with the law," he then suggested, "is the best we can do: we, easy company, we can not dictate to governments of countries in which we operate." The delegate of the search engine in California, joined by representatives from Cisco , Google and Microsoft , had to defend the Chinese from the violent activities accusations hurled by politicians , academics and lawyers. "Come to terms with dictatorships, be ashamed," shouted the lawmaker Tom Lantos: "I do not understand how your managers can rest easy," he said, turning to Yahoo.
Chaired by Senator Christopher Smith, the table of consultations has quickly turned into a relentless succession of denials, confessions and surprises. The companies targeted first ask the help of the United States , as mediators diplomatic and economic conditions for the democratic China can improve.
Chaired by Senator Christopher Smith, the table of consultations has quickly turned into a relentless succession of denials, confessions and surprises. The companies targeted first ask the help of the United States , as mediators diplomatic and economic conditions for the democratic China can improve.
need a "very important", according to Microsoft says: the multinational company in Redmond, present in China for only nine months, and already strong three and a half million people on MSN Search , has highlighted the problem of local laws . "The problem of censorship makes us very sad and is a great rock," said the spokesman, "but we must continue to be productive and we can not expect to leave the country or ignore local laws on the control of information."
The officer of Microsoft, market research in hand, then said with optimism that "Old Blog", despite is heavily censored, "however, gave way to Chinese citizens to be better informed on topics such as SARS, HIV and bird flu, thus participating in a "slow process of democratization." This, according to Redmond effluent, would be the demonstration a possible coexistence between Western companies and the Chinese regime.
Google seems to have two weights and two measures: " Google.cn only version of Google in China, designed for Chinese users and regulated according to the needs of the Chinese government," said spokesman of the king of online searches. The presence in China, the spokesman stated, means that "compliance with local laws." "We have decided to warn users that the search results displayed on Google.cn may be different from those found on Google.com," he added.
The Colossus of Mountain View is basically in favor of a U.S. intervention to give birth to a global task force for freedom of expression , funded by the big players in the Internet world.
Cisco then denied having a role in complaints made by Beijing against Internet users: "The devices are used in products from Cisco in the United States, Canada, Europe, Arab countries and even China : the infrastructure that China uses to censor, "said a spokesman for the specified telecommunications giant," are exactly the same as those used to remove pornography from corporate intranets or to protect the institutions from the assaults of crackers and malicious. "
Cisco confirmed that its products are not "designed for censorship," as many users and supporters of digital freedoms have often reported, but "we need to pursue the hope that the Internet becomes a glimmer of humanity freed from democracy to dictatorship ".
China is a huge market and appetibilissimo , with 110 million Internet users and dazzling economic growth rates. Senator Smith reminded the companies that "any cooperation with the tyranny does not justify any kind of income", especially when they are made available "tools that make it possible to dictatorship and repression of rights Human.
Adapted from Point Computer
What the U.S. can "help " the rest of the world through a Task Force on Freedom of Expression World .. I think it really unlikely .. especially in light of recent revelations.