A rchive Date
[ 06-03-2006 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6039834.html?tag=nl.e622
Politicians lash out at tech firms over China
By Declan McCullagh, and Anne Broache, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: February 15, 2006, 11:10 AM PT
Politicians lashed out at U.S. Internet companies on Wednesday, accusing them of collaborating with China's "regime of repression" and pledging to enact a law soon to make such cooperation illegal.
During a House of Representatives hearing, members of Congress offered repeated condemnations of Google, Yahoo, Cisco Systems and Microsoft that were the most antagonistic so far in an ongoing dispute about how U.S.-based companies can offer services in China while protecting the free speech and privacy of Chinese users.
"This value-free excuse truly sickens me," said Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, who accused the four corporations of a "nauseating collaboration with a regime of repression."
"What Congress is looking for is real spine and willingness to stand up to the outrageous demands of a totalitarian regime," added Lantos, the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Chinese dissidents are "in the Chinese gulag because Yahoo chose to reveal their identities to the Chinese government."
Over the last few months, public scrutiny of China's state-mandated censorship has grown thanks to developments such as Microsoft deleting a journalist's blog, Yahoo turning over information about a Chinese journalist, and Google offering a censored Chinese search service.
Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, said legislation is being drafted to prevent U.S.-based employees of any company "from turning over confidential information to a repressive government...unless our government certifies that that information is being requested for a legitimate criminal investigation for a nonpolitical crime."
Representatives of technology companies were not given an opportunity to respond to the criticism until nearly three hours had elapsed since the hearing began, at 7 a.m. PT. The discussion among politicians had also veered repeatedly toward topics such as communism and President Bush's domestic surveillance plan using the National Security Agency.
Microsoft lobbyist Jack Krumholtz said his employer is willing to withdraw services when they "completely compromise the value to customers" in that region.
But, said Krumholtz, who is Microsoft's director of federal government affairs, even China's censorship efforts leave valuable information available to its Internet users. So, he said, "based on grounds of human rights and freedom of expression alone, Microsoft believes that we should continue to provide our Internet-enabled services in China."
Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey, the Republican chairman of the human-rights subcommittee, likened cooperating with China's ruling Communist Party to aiding Adolf Hitler and Germany's Nazi party during the Second World War.
During the Holocaust, Smith said, Jews were "marched off to incredible precision and the trains did run on time to the gas chambers," thanks to punched-card technology originating in the United States. Smith said that such a precedent should encourage Yahoo to "move out and disengage" from China.
Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan acknowledged that the Shi Tao case, in which Yahoo China turned over information that led to the journalist being sent to prison for 10 years, raised "profound and troubling questions."
Callahan said, however, that Yahoo was "unaware of the particular facts" about the case, such as Shi's identity and occupation, until news reports surfaced. Also, the company is an investor in and does not have day-to-day control of Yahoo China, which is run by Alibaba.com, he said.
"When we receive a demand from law enforcement authorized under the law of the country in which we operate, we must comply," Callahan said. "This is a real example of why this issue is bigger than any one company and any one industry. All companies must respond in the same way."
Yahoo and the other companies who testified said they're working together on an industry-wide approach to demands by the Chinese government. Google Vice President Elliot Schrage said that the search giant is exploring "guidelines that would apply for all countries in which Internet content is subjected to governmental restrictions."
Those could, Schrage said, include public disclosure of the type of censorship requests received and best practices for protecting customer data--perhaps by storing it on servers in the U.S. instead of locally. (Google has chosen not to offer versions of Gmail or Blogger on servers physically located in China.)
Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based free-speech group that sent a representative to testify, has called for legislation instead of voluntary codes of conduct. It says that search engines must not "be allowed to incorporate automatic filters" deleting words such as "democracy" or "human rights" and that technology companies must not be allowed to sell equipment designed to monitor Internet users without U.S. government permission.
Continued: Name-calling during marathon hearing...
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Politicians lash out at tech firms over ChinaBy Declan McCullagh, and Anne Broache, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: February 15, 2006, 11:10 AM PT
Forward in EMAIL Format for PRINT ZDNet Tags: Corporate responsibility Asia International governments Government Microsoft Google Yahoo! Inc Cisco Systems Inc
Politicians lashed out at U.S. Internet companies on Wednesday, accusing them of collaborating with China's "regime of repression" and pledging to enact a law soon to make such cooperation illegal.
During a House of Representatives hearing, members of Congress offered repeated condemnations of Google, Yahoo, Cisco Systems and Microsoft that were the most antagonistic so far in an ongoing dispute about how U.S.-based companies can offer services in China while protecting the free speech and privacy of Chinese users.
"This value-free excuse truly sickens me," said Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, who accused the four corporations of a "nauseating collaboration with a regime of repression."
"What Congress is looking for is real spine and willingness to stand up to the outrageous demands of a totalitarian regime," added Lantos, the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Chinese dissidents are "in the Chinese gulag because Yahoo chose to reveal their identities to the Chinese government."
Over the last few months, public scrutiny of China's state-mandated censorship has grown thanks to developments such as Microsoft deleting a journalist's blog, Yahoo turning over information about a Chinese journalist, and Google offering a censored Chinese search service.
Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, said legislation is being drafted to prevent U.S.-based employees of any company "from turning over confidential information to a repressive government...unless our government certifies that that information is being requested for a legitimate criminal investigation for a nonpolitical crime."
Representatives of technology companies were not given an opportunity to respond to the criticism until nearly three hours had elapsed since the hearing began, at 7 a.m. PT. The discussion among politicians had also veered repeatedly toward topics such as communism and President Bush's domestic surveillance plan using the National Security Agency.
Microsoft lobbyist Jack Krumholtz said his employer is willing to withdraw services when they "completely compromise the value to customers" in that region.
But, said Krumholtz, who is Microsoft's director of federal government affairs, even China's censorship efforts leave valuable information available to its Internet users. So, he said, "based on grounds of human rights and freedom of expression alone, Microsoft believes that we should continue to provide our Internet-enabled services in China."
Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey, the Republican chairman of the human-rights subcommittee, likened cooperating with China's ruling Communist Party to aiding Adolf Hitler and Germany's Nazi party during the Second World War.
During the Holocaust, Smith said, Jews were "marched off to incredible precision and the trains did run on time to the gas chambers," thanks to punched-card technology originating in the United States. Smith said that such a precedent should encourage Yahoo to "move out and disengage" from China.
Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan acknowledged that the Shi Tao case, in which Yahoo China turned over information that led to the journalist being sent to prison for 10 years, raised "profound and troubling questions."
Callahan said, however, that Yahoo was "unaware of the particular facts" about the case, such as Shi's identity and occupation, until news reports surfaced. Also, the company is an investor in and does not have day-to-day control of Yahoo China, which is run by Alibaba.com, he said.
"When we receive a demand from law enforcement authorized under the law of the country in which we operate, we must comply," Callahan said. "This is a real example of why this issue is bigger than any one company and any one industry. All companies must respond in the same way."
Yahoo and the other companies who testified said they're working together on an industry-wide approach to demands by the Chinese government. Google Vice President Elliot Schrage said that the search giant is exploring "guidelines that would apply for all countries in which Internet content is subjected to governmental restrictions."
Those could, Schrage said, include public disclosure of the type of censorship requests received and best practices for protecting customer data--perhaps by storing it on servers in the U.S. instead of locally. (Google has chosen not to offer versions of Gmail or Blogger on servers physically located in China.)
Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based free-speech group that sent a representative to testify, has called for legislation instead of voluntary codes of conduct. It says that search engines must not "be allowed to incorporate automatic filters" deleting words such as "democracy" or "human rights" and that technology companies must not be allowed to sell equipment designed to monitor Internet users without U.S. government permission.
Continued: Name-calling during marathon hearing...
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