Monday, September 12, 2005
Reporters sans frontieres - China - United States
Reporters sans frontieres - China - United States
One of the interesting issues raised by Chinese Government's attempt to control political debate is the role played by global information corporations in helping China set up an information infrastructure that can be contolled and censored. This press release from Reporters Without Borders alleges that Yahoo may be cooperating with the Chinese Government effort to control political dissent:
Corporate collaboration with government security interests is by no means limited to China. The relation between centralized power and these information technology giants is an issue here at home as well.
One of the interesting issues raised by Chinese Government's attempt to control political debate is the role played by global information corporations in helping China set up an information infrastructure that can be contolled and censored. This press release from Reporters Without Borders alleges that Yahoo may be cooperating with the Chinese Government effort to control political dissent:
“We already knew that Yahoo ! collaborates enthusiastically with the Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese police informant as well,” the press freedom organisation said.
“Yahoo ! obviously complied with requests from the Chinese authorities to furnish information regarding an IP address that linked Shi Tao to materials posted online, and the company will yet again simply state that they just conform to the laws of the countries in which they operate,” the organisation said. “But does the fact that this corporation operates under Chinese law free it from all ethical considerations ? How far will it go to please Beijing ?”
Corporate collaboration with government security interests is by no means limited to China. The relation between centralized power and these information technology giants is an issue here at home as well.
