Financial Times & MSNBC: Internet giants grilled on China policies
February 15, 2006 Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Cisco later responded to stinging criticism of
their business practices - including accusations that they have
"enthusiastically volunteered for China's censorship brigade" -
saying the issue was too big for the companies to tackle on their own and that
the US government needed to take a leadership role. The international relations sub-committee hearing on Capitol Hill was not the
first time corporate executives had been taken to task by lawmakers for their
business practices. But the presence at the hearing of Google and Yahoo, which
pride themselves on facilitating the exchange of information around the world,
and who have never before come under such harsh scrutiny, underscores that
congressional pressure is building on the groups to take action to address
concerns such as China's human rights record. [...] Mr Schrage [vice-president of global affairs at Google] and other executives
were at times left speechless under the relentless questioning of California
congressman Tom Lantos, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who asked each of
the companies whether they felt "ashamed" and whether they would agree
to discriminate against women if asked to by a repressive regime. "Your abhorrent activities in China are a disgrace. I simply do not
understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night," Mr Lantos said. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican legislator, emphasised the Chinese
government's persecution of minorities in China, and introduced Peter Yuan Li, a
Chinese-born American who was beaten in his home in Georgia this month. Mr Li
has accused Chinese agents of being behind the attack because of the work he has
done as a software engineer trying to get controversial websites through Chinese
firewalls. In a Financial Times interview, the Falun Gong practitioner described
being subjected to a ferocious beating at his home by Chinese and Korean
speaking men who stole two laptops and his home telephone.
The giants of the internet industry were put on the defensive on Wednesday when
US lawmakers compared their compliance to Chinese censorship laws with the use
of IBM's technology in the organisation of the Holocaust.
Source: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11374936/
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