Well I see Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft will testify before congress tomorrow regarding their business agreements with China, which are alleged to constitute human rights violations. It is not an issue about the legality of what these companies are doing in China. However, the implication of tomorrow’s testimony is that congress may make new laws that prohibit these companies from compromising human rights in order to do business with China.
It’s interesting that there are two separate news stories about Google that are bubbling right now. One is this issue with China, and the other is the U.S. government’s subpoena for a sample of Google’s U.S. search engine activity, to which Google is refusing to comply. They have until February 17th to respond to the subpoena.
The purpose of the subpoena is to help our government build a case against accessibility of Internet porn by children. The request to examine Google’s search profile has been spun that it amounts to another dimension of spying on U.S. citizens with the distinction that this so called spying is specifically about sex. It is being framed as, “Bush in your bedroom,” so to speak. That’s the spin, but the government defends its subpoena, saying that it is not asking Google for any data that identifies specific individuals.
Here is my prediction, if I may go out on a limb. The two stories about Google will link up shortly, maybe as soon as tomorrow. Google and / or its defenders will charge that congress is going after Google on the China thing as retaliation for Google’s refusal to cooperate with the subpoena for the sex search data. This is not breaking news yet, but it will be starting tomorrow.
Yes, because the media has something against the government, theyre so sinister, and so liberal. I mean when Clinton was in office, they kept talking about how his affair was a private matter.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby
The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.
- Gordon Parks
Yesterday, representatives from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco testified before congress about their business activities in China.
These business activities are not simply limited to the blocking of certain search words that the Chinese government finds objectionable. Instead, the companies are required to take an active role as an extension of the Chinese Internet police in detecting and identifying individuals who are making an effort to circumvent the Chinese censorship. This identification not only stops the circumvention, but also can result in the prosecution and jailing of the offender.
In a recent case, for instance, Yahoo identified an individual to the Chinese authorities, resulting in that individual being sentenced to ten years in prison for using the Internet in the pursuit of freedom from Chinese government oppression.
"Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace," said Rep. Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee. "I simply don't understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night."
Further discourse drew a comparison of the China business of the four companies to helping Nazi Germany. The companies admitted that it was a tough call for them. On one hand, the China market is a pot of gold, but it leaves dirt on your hands that undermines your brand and devalues your stock.
Nevertheless, after all of the huffing indignation, the ball is squarely in Congress’s court. For one thing, they could try to persuade China to allow freedom. The four companies asked congress to do that, saying that, as private sector businesses, they were not in a position to ask China to change their position. Of course, even the U.S. congress is quite limited in changing China’s policy on freedom.
The real power of congress in this matter is to simply outlaw the objectionable activities of the Internet companies working in China. After all, they are U.S. corporations. Congress holds all the cards in this matter. So congress shows the world that even when confronting corporate hypocrisy, once again nobody can top the hypocrisy of congress.
02-15-2006 04:07 AM
