IP Democracy: Human Rights Watch: Internet Firms are Censors

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!”)

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on August 11, 2006 2:36 PM to IP Democracy