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US tech giants in censorship scandal no show
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News and Politics :: Sino-American :: Human rights and personal freedoms :: News and Perspectives ::
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posted Wednesday, 1 February 2006
As questions continue to be raised about the distinctly 'un American activities' of certain American firms, it has been announced that representatives from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Cisco have refused to attend a hearing before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, scheduled to be held today, to discuss the complicity of US technology firms in internet censorship.
Sources within Congress and the media, intimate two of the four companies, Yahoo and Google have refused to respond to requests that they attend, while Microsoft has refused to publicly comment on its apparent boycott.
For its part, Cisco Systems, which has been accused of providing much of the hardware used by Chinese censors, issued only a brief statement saying they it could not send a representative to put their case before the Caucus because of a 'scheduling conflict', but that they were willing to speak to its members, so long as it was 'off the record' and outside of the remit of the Caucus.
The calling of the caucus hearing comes in response to growing concerns over the role of US companies in internet censorship, particularly the extent to which it has been found that they have been complicit in restricting the flow of information in China and other countries.
Although other groups will be attending the hearing, the Caucus had been particularly keen to hear testimony from the four tech giants, which are thought to be among being among the worst offenders.
As such, Microsoft stands accused of censoring its MSN Space blogging tool to prevent users from posting on such terms as 'democracy' and 'freedom of speech' and of deleting blogs that spoke out against the Chinese government, as well as performing similar acts of censorship in relation to its Chinese search engine.
Likewise, Google and Yahoo have been accused of censoring their Chinese language search engines to filter out sites that do not meet the Official Chinese edicts on history, geography, economics or politics. An action which Google has also extended to its Chinese language News service
Additionally Cisco has been accused of providing much of the advance hardware filtering services used by Beijing to block access to so-called 'unhealthy site', a euphemism for web pages that contradict, disagree with, or debunk, the official government line.
No More No-shows
While the tech giants can avoid speaking before the Caucus, because it is an 'informal committee' with very little power, they may have a much more difficult time avoiding a second congressional hearing scheduled for 15 February, which is being held by the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Rights.
As a division of the House International Relations Committee, the Subcommittee on Human Rights has the power to issue subpoenas to all involve. Compelling them to testify whether they like it or not, and allowing official censure if they refuse.
As yet, representatives of the Subcommittee have not felt it necessary to issue subpoenas against the four companies. Instead, hoping that they will choose to attend on a voluntary basis.
So far Cisco, Google and Yahoo have indicated that they will attend the Subcommittee meeting. Microsoft however refused to comment but is expected to attend in some fasion.
Sources within Congress and the media, intimate two of the four companies, Yahoo and Google have refused to respond to requests that they attend, while Microsoft has refused to publicly comment on its apparent boycott.
For its part, Cisco Systems, which has been accused of providing much of the hardware used by Chinese censors, issued only a brief statement saying they it could not send a representative to put their case before the Caucus because of a 'scheduling conflict', but that they were willing to speak to its members, so long as it was 'off the record' and outside of the remit of the Caucus.
| "We're definitely not going to see somebody from Cisco and Microsoft," Lynne Weil, Spokesperson, Congressional Human Rights Caucus. |
The calling of the caucus hearing comes in response to growing concerns over the role of US companies in internet censorship, particularly the extent to which it has been found that they have been complicit in restricting the flow of information in China and other countries.
Although other groups will be attending the hearing, the Caucus had been particularly keen to hear testimony from the four tech giants, which are thought to be among being among the worst offenders.
As such, Microsoft stands accused of censoring its MSN Space blogging tool to prevent users from posting on such terms as 'democracy' and 'freedom of speech' and of deleting blogs that spoke out against the Chinese government, as well as performing similar acts of censorship in relation to its Chinese search engine.
Likewise, Google and Yahoo have been accused of censoring their Chinese language search engines to filter out sites that do not meet the Official Chinese edicts on history, geography, economics or politics. An action which Google has also extended to its Chinese language News service
Additionally Cisco has been accused of providing much of the advance hardware filtering services used by Beijing to block access to so-called 'unhealthy site', a euphemism for web pages that contradict, disagree with, or debunk, the official government line.
No More No-shows
While the tech giants can avoid speaking before the Caucus, because it is an 'informal committee' with very little power, they may have a much more difficult time avoiding a second congressional hearing scheduled for 15 February, which is being held by the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Rights.
As a division of the House International Relations Committee, the Subcommittee on Human Rights has the power to issue subpoenas to all involve. Compelling them to testify whether they like it or not, and allowing official censure if they refuse.
As yet, representatives of the Subcommittee have not felt it necessary to issue subpoenas against the four companies. Instead, hoping that they will choose to attend on a voluntary basis.
| "We do have subpoena power .. [but] there has been no decision made whether to use that [power] or not" Brad Dayspring, Spokesperson, House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Rights |
So far Cisco, Google and Yahoo have indicated that they will attend the Subcommittee meeting. Microsoft however refused to comment but is expected to attend in some fasion.
View Comments/Add a Comment (1)
1. dreamawakener left...
Sunday, 5 February 2006 8:39 pm :: http://www.jrwoodward.net
Fascinating story. Thanks for sharing. I will probably post on this in
the future.