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Technology Companies Blame Their Bad Behavior On China, Are Your Rights Next?

February 15, 2006 ⋅  E-Mail Article ⋅  Print Article ⋅ Post a comment

Are American businesses selling out the very rights we so steadfastly try to defend? And if they sell out to the Chinese, what won’t they do? Has our greed exceeded our need here in corporate America? You will be shocked to hear what Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco, and Google are doing. And you think Bush is violating civil rights? Wait to you learn about these collaborators.China

Four United States based technology companies were branded collaborators by the House committee looking into their actions. The House branded the companies collaborators with the Chinese government because these companies apparently assisted in suppressing dissent in China in return for privileged access to a thriving Internet market inside mainland China.

House members asserted that Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Google Incorporated have sought to make clear their business practices in China only because they are receiving a deluge of negative media and World Government attention. In others words, if a few did not point out their actions these four companies would never have tried to justify their actions, and this is very distressful. If they were around during Nazi Germany we may all have been goose stepping our way through life. How can these companies betray the very users who trust them?

Rep. Tom Lantos stated to the four companies, “Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace..I simply don’t understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night.”
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, said Google seemingly had acted “as a functionary of the Chinese government. … This is astonishing.”

The four companies have been accused of committing to actions in China that would have them brought up on criminal charges if they occurred in America. Not only are they considered to have been compliant in invading civil rights, they are also accused of assisting a foreign government in suppressing freedom of speech, assembly, and politics. Is this the influence the global trade partner China is having on the world? Is the potential access to their markets allowing them to control corporations and their actions? And what if China asked them to spy, or change policy, here in America, do you think they would not comply if it meant they may lose their potentially lucrative trade deals? Your liberties, and privacy, may one day be taken from you because China just wants it that way, or so it appears.

It has been accused that China has worked with the four companies in devising ways to block information from being visible to Chinese citizens. These companies have also apparently shared sensitive data about unique users with the Chinese government. These are only accusations but the companies are not denying them. Matter of fact all four of them have representatives up in Washington explaining their atrocious behaviors.

Has China turned these respectable companies into liars, beggars, and cheaters? Have they given up their integrity for the potential of a few more Yen? Is this what globalization has brought us to?

Yahoo’s senior vice president Michael Callahan has stated that his company was very distressed at having to comply with Chinese law. However, this did not stop them from committing the heinous, and intrusive, acts.

Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications and public affairs for Google, stated that Google’s decision to censor its Chinese Internet search engine was “not something we did enthusiastically or something we’re proud of at all. … We have begun a path that we believe will ultimately benefit our users in China.”

Microsoft’s counsel, Jack Krumholtz, stated that his company was committed to staying in China because of the Internet’s potential for eventually allowing free access to information. He stated, “We think the benefits far outweigh the downside, in terms of promoting freedom of expression.”

China And Their Influence On Data Gathering

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