February 15, 2006 Comments
The Times Online features an article today about Microsoft, Yahoo!, Cisco Systems and Google taking the stand before the House of Representatives human rights subcommittee to talk about corporate responsibility and the need to do business abroad. Google and Yahoo! faced some harsh criticism for their actions in China. Google, for launching a heavily filtered version of their search engine to appease government officials and Yahoo! for sharing information that has led to the arrest and jailing of two Chinese dissidents.
From the article:
As if to rub salt into the wounds, Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican who heads the human rights subcommittee, even invited a group of bloggers to "live-blog" the hearing, saying that Americans had the right to publish and read "unfiltered news".
Tom Lantos, the full committee’s leading Democrat, told the company officials that they had amassed great wealth and influence "but apparently very little social responsibility".
"Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace," Mr Lantos said. "I simply don’t understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night."
From a business perspective, it's a tough call for the companies. China's internet market is expected to quickly top that of the U.S., meaning that billions of dollars in advertising and commerce are simply waiting to be claimed. With obligations to shareholders, it's difficult for firms like Yahoo! and Google to stay out of the market.
On the other hand, with a corporate motto like "don't be evil," it's been tough for Google to explain the decision to give in to the heavy handed tactics of a government bent on the censorship of any content that it deems "subversive."
The displeasure of the American government over the search engine's actions is clear:
A new survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists calls China’s efforts to control its media unique in the world’s history. "Never have so many lines of communication in the hands of so many people been met with such obsessive resistance from a central authority," it said.
Mr Smith, one of the most vocal Congressional critics of China's human rights record, said that the companies are "enabling dictatorship". "Cooperation with tyranny should not be embraced for the sake of profits," he added.
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