Google, Microsoft and Yahoo stand accused of putting corporate interests above the human rights of the Chinese people. The allegations come in an analysis of the three firms鈥� business practices in China, issued by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International.
China鈥檚 government routinely monitors its citizen鈥檚 web browsing and controls access to web sites via state-controlled internet service providers (ISPs). The government also imprisons people for posting information online regarded as subversive.
Amnesty alleges that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all helped the Chinese government carry out these actions. 鈥淥ur report contrasts the public statements by these three companies about freedom of expression on the internet with their actual activities in China,鈥� says Amnesty UK spokesman Steve Ballinger.
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Called Undermining Freedom of Expression in China 鈥� The role of Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, the report calls on the companies to reveal which keywords their Chinese operations filter from web search results and ban bloggers from using. It also calls upon them to reveal the nature of any agreements struck with the authorities in Beijing. Amnesty also asks the three firms to publicly call for the release of dissidents 鈥渏ailed for expressing peaceful opinions online鈥�.
Legal appeals
The companies have previously claimed that they must obey local laws when operating offshore, but Amnesty says they have been too complicit.
鈥淚nternational law protects freedom of speech. If these companies genuinely believe in freedom of information online they should be standing up to the Chinese authorities by exhausting all legal appeals before complying with demands that run counter to human rights,鈥� says Amnesty UK spokesman Steve Ballinger.
Google has established a censored version of its search engine in China, but not revealed which results are blocked. Those related to Tibetan autonomy and religious groups are thought to be high on the list. Yahoo, which operates in China through a partner company called Alibaba, also censors search results. Yahoo has also been accused of divulging users鈥� personal emails to the Chinese government, leading to two people being arrested and imprisoned. One has been sentenced to 10 years hard labour.
Market slice
Amnesty accuses Microsoft of controlling search results and removing blogs on 鈥渟ubversive鈥� subjects. The company shut down one blog produced by a New York Times researcher, following a Chinese government request.
鈥淭hey always argue that it is better to be in China and bring the internet to China, but that is nonsense,鈥� Ballinger says. 鈥淐hina has had internet access for 10 years. They are clearly going there because they want a slice of that market.鈥�
Google鈥檚 corporate slogan 鈥� 鈥淒on鈥檛 be evil鈥� 鈥� and the company鈥檚 reputation have both taken a battering over its controversial Chinese operations.
鈥淕oogle respects the fact that people and organisations, including Amnesty, oppose our decision to launch a search service in China,鈥� the company said in a statement issued on Thursday. 鈥淕oogle.cn already discloses to users when information has been removed from our search results. In addition, we have decided not to offer services where we cannot guarantee the privacy of our users.鈥�
Limited leverage
Yahoo also defends its activities in China. 鈥淲e believe we can make more of a difference by having even a limited presence and growing our influence, than we can by not operating in a particular country at all,鈥� the company says in a statement.
In a statement to US congress in February 2006, Microsoft said it could do little to defy the Chinese government鈥檚 policies: 鈥淲hile we will actively work to encourage governments around the world to embrace policies on Internet content that foster the freer exchange of ideas and promote maximum access to information, we also recognise that, acting alone, our leverage and ability to influence government policies in various countries is severely limited.鈥�
But Amnesty wants users of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to write to or email the companies to ask them to change to the way they operate in China. It has of Google chief Eric Schmidt and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on its website, and has created an electronic form for contacting Yahoo executives.
