Lawmakers Grill Internet Firms over China
By Geoff Duncan
February 15, 2006
Members of Congress take Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Yahoo to task over alleged complicity in Chinese censorship, repression, and human rights abuses.
Members of the House International Relations Committee took turns raking representatives of Google, Yahoo, Cisco, and Microsoft over the coals regarding alleged complicity in Chinese human rights abuses and Internet censorship. "Your abhorrent activities in China are a disgrace," said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA). "I simply do not understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night."
U.S. Internet firms are caught between a rock and a hard place in regards to China's Internet market, currently believed to be the second largest in the world with over 110 million Internet users.
On one hand, Internet companies cannot afford to ignore a market of China's size. On the other hand, operating in China means conforming with Chinese law, which includes such actions as turning over user account information to Chinese authorities on request and censoring Internet content. Google Vice President Elliot Schrage said "The requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship—something that runs counter to Google's most basic values and commitments as a company." Nonetheless, Schrage noted the Chinese version of Google's Internet search engine "respects the content restrictions imposed by Chinese laws and regulations."
China's efforts to filter and restrict Internet content have been characterized as the world's most repressive by several watchdog organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders. By operating in China, U.S. firms are accused of contributing to China's suppression of democracy and freedom of speech, as well as supporting dictatorship and tyranny by enabling China to exert control over the Internet.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has publicly stated that he believes companies like Microsoft are, overall, making a positive contribution in China and that even limited Internet capabilities creates information flow, contributing to a national dialog in China. But Representative Lantos disagreed: "These companies tell us that they will change China, but China has already changed them."
Google recently launched a Chinese version of its search engine which censors search results Chinese authorities deem to be harmful, including information on democracy movements, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Falun Gong movement, and known Chinese dissidents. Reporters Without Borders as implicated Yahoo in the arrest and imprisonment of Chinese Internet writers Li Zhi and Shi Tao, based on account information Yahoo turned over to Chinese authorities. Microsoft has come under fire for blocking access to a blog written by a critic of the Beijing administration.
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) said he planned to introduce a bill to formalize the goals of a new State Department initiative to help U.S. companies protect freedom of expression in nations mandating the censorship of online content. U.S. companies in general support this measure, saying it should help create the sort of government-to-government dialog necessary to influence policy. For their part, Google, Microsoft, et al, claim they lack not only the legal authority but also the international clout to effect policy change within repressive regimes.
The proposed bill would mandate export controls on types of software and hardware products used to create online services and would prohibit locating email servers and other assets in countries which do not have U.S.-style rights of due process. If the bill were enacted, companies would be violating U.S. law if they permitted their services to be filtered for terms such as "democracy" and "religious freedom."