New York-based Human Rights Watch accused U.S. Internet leaders Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Skype of complying with censorship in China. In a 135-page report, the group said that the blocking of political, religious and “peaceful” speech is “arbitrary, opaque and unaccountable.”
Human Rights Watch documents the various ways that these companies compromise free speech and dispute the arguments made by Yahoo!, Google and others that they are actually helping to enhance access to information. Moreover, the group counters the argument that companies must comply with Chinese content restrictions or they can’t operate in that country at all.
These companies also argue that they have no choice but to comply with Chinese law and regulations in order to access the Chinese market. Human Rights Watch does not believe that the choice for companies is to either continue current practices or to leave China. Rather, we believe companies can and should make ethical choices about what specific products and services they will provide to the Chinese people––and the manner in which they are provided––without playing a pro-active role in censorship or collaborating in repression.
The report, researched and written by free speech advocate Rebecca MacKinnon, is fascinating because it offers numerous graphic depictions of how Internet censorship works in China. Although much of the content is in Chinese, some parts of the graphics have been translated into English (click on thumbnail example below of a Yahoo! page that says “Error Page: We have already helped you filter out excess web pages!”)
Cynthia Brumfield at 2:36 PM|Comments(1)
These companies also argue that they have no choice but to comply with Chinese law and regulations in order to access the Chinese market.
That's such a crock. Why these search companies bend to the will of these dictatorships is stupid, indeed.
In all honesty - if the search engines took a hard core stance on it - and refused to change their policy, then eventually they would really open up the market.
Yahoo!, Google and others that they are actually helping to enhance access to information
LOL, yeah right!! Anyone who thinks it's ok to restrict information is just another pawn of the 'thought police'. Look - obviously there's a demand for these sites in China. Let the population question China's goverment why they can't have access to google.com and yahoo.com - instead of getting google and yahoo to pitch in and make them 'think' they are getting 'information'. You're getting the information the Chinese government WANTS you to see, with Google's blessing.
Naaa, if google and yahoo really cared about the 'free flow' of information they would refuse to makes changes for the 'thought police'.
Makes you wonder how much other information these sites 'block'. I'm curious if google blocks certain pages that reference yahoo because they don't like the competition. Or if they block pages from Company_A because Company_B is paying them more? It opens up a can of worms questioning the very foundation of the usefulness of a search engine - how much is a search engine really worth if someone's dictating what you can and cannot see? Are the results I get on Google a TRUE web search or what all is being hidden?
I know one thing - it's time, yet again, for a new search engine that REALLY serves up ALL information for people - not this corporate/government version of 'free speech'. Google and Yahoo may say they don't block things for other countries - but who would actually believe that? It's obvious where their morals and ethics lie.... with the highest bidder!!
So let's hope for a new search engine - one that works well and NEVER compromises REAL free information for the bottom line. As soon as I find it, I'll have a new home page!
I guess in the end, it's like a news agency with a political agenda. It's not really news - it's worthless propaganda.
But it's all good - it's opening the market for a new search service that gives people REAL results from a trustworthy company. And competition's good in a free society. Sure... the stock's up - for now, like Xerox's used to be.
Posted by: Robert at August 17, 2006 1:44 PM
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