p2pnet - rss feed: MS, Yahoo, on China business
p2p news / p2pnet: Yahoo actually gave Communist China state security authorities information that helped identify, convict and sentence a Chinese writer who’d highlighted press restrictions.
Microsoft willingly and quickly closed down a blog that had the temerity to report on a newspaper strike the Chinese Communist party didn’t want publicized, and also backed Google when it was attacked over its eagerness to cooperate with China.
Now, Yahoo and and Microsoft have, “urged the US government to act at an international level to stop foreign governments censoring the online content that their citizens can view and access,” say the two companies, according to VNUNet.
This is like Jack the Ripper pleading for medical reforms.
“We are deeply concerned about recent developments in China,” the two companies said in a joint statement sent to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in blatant attempt to damp down the mounting storm that’s rising against them.
“We urge the US government to take a leadership role in this regard and have initiated a dialogue with relevant US officials to encourage such government-to-government engagement.”
Yesterday, Microsoft, Google and Cisco boycotted a congressional briefing on US Net businesses
Yahoo and Microsoft, both of whom obviously have access to the authorities at the highest levels, “claim that they lack the power to address the issue of online censoring,” says VNUNet.
“Beyond commercial considerations, we believe that our services have promoted personal expression and enabled far wider access to independent sources of information for hundreds of millions of individuals in China and elsewhere in the world.”
Tom Lantos, co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said, “There has been a string of disturbing incidents in which U.S.-based Internet companies have bowed to pressure from Beijing,” says the Washington Post.
“He said that instead of using their considerable resources to develop new technologies to bypass government gatekeepers, the Internet companies have agreed to guard the gates themselves.”
Also See:
backed Google - Microsoft backs Google, January 28, 2006
VNUNet - IT giants demand action on Chinese web censoring, February 2, 2006
boycotted - Human Rights no-shows, February 1, 2006
Washington Post - House: Internet Companies Give in to China, February 1, 2006
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Download it here and feel free to copy the zip and host it yourself so others can download it.
