Manchurian Global
When presented with large profit potential, U.S. corporations are willing to overlook violations of freedom of expression in China.
Analysts suggest that China’s sophisticated Internet infrastructure would not be possible without technology and equipment imported from U.S. and other foreign companies. For China’s latest network upgrade, “CN2,” which began in mid-2004, two U.S. companies, Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks, were granted four out of six contracts. Cisco Systems, a U.S. telecommunications equipment company, has previously faced allegations that it assisted China in developing censorship capabilities. In its recent router contract for CN2, Cisco will provide China with its 12000 Series routers, which are equipped with filtering capability typically used to prevent Internet attacks (i.e., worms and viruses). This technology can also be used by PRC authorities to block politically sensitive content.36 Derek Bambauer, a researcher at the OpenNet Initiative, believes that without this upgrade, routers in China are not searching deeply within packets of data for banned keywords, because it would put an enormous load on the routers. Some contend that Cisco routers and the CN2 network upgrade may enable Chinese authorities to employ more CRS-8 sophisticated keyword filtering. Cisco denies allegations that it has altered its products to suit the objectives of PRC cyber-policing. Cisco has declared that it does not tailor its products to the China market, and the products it sells in China are the same as those to other countries.
In addition to U.S. companies, such as Cisco, that provide hardware, a number of U.S. software and Internet service providers, such as Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft, have been accused of complying with censorship in China. In 2002, Yahoo was heavily criticized by human rights groups for voluntarily signing a pledge of “self-discipline,” promising to follow China’s censorship laws. In June 2005, Microsoft’s blog-hosting service, MSN Spaces, began removing words like “democracy” and “human rights” from use in Chinese blog titles and postings. Google also prevents Chinese Internet users from accessing sites that Chinese authorities deem politically sensitive. When asked about their role in Chinese censorship, most companies maintain that they must follow the laws of the host country in which they are doing business.
Yahoo and Shi Tao Case.
Yahoo has come under fire for giving the
personal e-mail address of a Chinese journalist, Shi Tao, to PRC government authorities, which led to his criminal conviction and sentence of 10 years in prison. In April 2004, Shi, who was an editor at Contemporary Business News based in Hunan province, attended an editorial meeting in which government officials read an internal document outlining media restrictions before the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in June 2004. Shi sent copies of his notes via his personal Yahoo e-mail account to a pro-democracy organization in the United States. PRC state security authorities later requested information from Yahoo that enabled them to identify Shi and use it in his conviction. Jerry Yang, co-founder and senior executive of Yahoo, confirmed that his company gave Chinese authorities information and described the company’s ultimate compliance as part of the legal burden of doing business in China. Human rights groups and others contend, however, that Yahoo and other U.S. companies seem too willing to accommodate the Chinese government in order to pursue business opportunities in the huge Chinese market.
Analysts suggest that China’s sophisticated Internet infrastructure would not be possible without technology and equipment imported from U.S. and other foreign companies. For China’s latest network upgrade, “CN2,” which began in mid-2004, two U.S. companies, Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks, were granted four out of six contracts. Cisco Systems, a U.S. telecommunications equipment company, has previously faced allegations that it assisted China in developing censorship capabilities. In its recent router contract for CN2, Cisco will provide China with its 12000 Series routers, which are equipped with filtering capability typically used to prevent Internet attacks (i.e., worms and viruses). This technology can also be used by PRC authorities to block politically sensitive content.36 Derek Bambauer, a researcher at the OpenNet Initiative, believes that without this upgrade, routers in China are not searching deeply within packets of data for banned keywords, because it would put an enormous load on the routers. Some contend that Cisco routers and the CN2 network upgrade may enable Chinese authorities to employ more CRS-8 sophisticated keyword filtering. Cisco denies allegations that it has altered its products to suit the objectives of PRC cyber-policing. Cisco has declared that it does not tailor its products to the China market, and the products it sells in China are the same as those to other countries.
In addition to U.S. companies, such as Cisco, that provide hardware, a number of U.S. software and Internet service providers, such as Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft, have been accused of complying with censorship in China. In 2002, Yahoo was heavily criticized by human rights groups for voluntarily signing a pledge of “self-discipline,” promising to follow China’s censorship laws. In June 2005, Microsoft’s blog-hosting service, MSN Spaces, began removing words like “democracy” and “human rights” from use in Chinese blog titles and postings. Google also prevents Chinese Internet users from accessing sites that Chinese authorities deem politically sensitive. When asked about their role in Chinese censorship, most companies maintain that they must follow the laws of the host country in which they are doing business.
Yahoo and Shi Tao Case.
Yahoo has come under fire for giving the
personal e-mail address of a Chinese journalist, Shi Tao, to PRC government authorities, which led to his criminal conviction and sentence of 10 years in prison. In April 2004, Shi, who was an editor at Contemporary Business News based in Hunan province, attended an editorial meeting in which government officials read an internal document outlining media restrictions before the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in June 2004. Shi sent copies of his notes via his personal Yahoo e-mail account to a pro-democracy organization in the United States. PRC state security authorities later requested information from Yahoo that enabled them to identify Shi and use it in his conviction. Jerry Yang, co-founder and senior executive of Yahoo, confirmed that his company gave Chinese authorities information and described the company’s ultimate compliance as part of the legal burden of doing business in China. Human rights groups and others contend, however, that Yahoo and other U.S. companies seem too willing to accommodate the Chinese government in order to pursue business opportunities in the huge Chinese market.
posted by professor rat at 3:39 AM
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