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Paul Mason's Idle Scrawl

Heard the news in China? No they haven't

  • Paul Mason
  • 10 Aug 06, 11:00 AM

Microsoft, Google, Skype and Yahoo were slammed today in a over their assistance to the Chinese authorities in censoring the Internet. It says:

"The above companies are complicit in the Chinese government鈥檚 censorship of political and religious information and/or the monitoring of peaceful speech in various ways鈥攁nd, it is important to note, to widely varying degrees. They have all accepted at least some Chinese government demands without mounting any meaningful challenge to them."...

Nevertheless this is a nuanced and conditional criticism, and the full detail of the report, which I am still plowing through, seems to suggest each of the big tech companies is trying, in some way, to push the envelope towards greater freedom of expression. "Human Rights Watch testing shows that the censored Google.cn, while denying access to the full range of information available on the World Wide Web, still enables the Chinese user to access substantially more information on sensitive political and religious subjects than its Chinese competitors," says the report.

Normally you might have expected this to be reported and debated on Newsnight - but tonight we will be dominated by the alleged terror plot and its impact; and by wars all points east of Suez.

Comments  Post your comment

While I do not want to be seen as an apologist for the Chinese Government, there is one cardinal rule: Those who chose to do business in China must play by the rules of the government. Yesterday, I heard China Radio International [CRI] on my shortwave radio. The News of the day was Walmart accepting trade unions in China. Walmart had the choice of accepting the trade unions or leaving China.

  • 2.
  • At 11:13 PM on 10 Aug 2006,
  • oliver kemp wrote:

I am 17 years old and my response to this attack on britian was deeply distrurbing as they are brtish citozns that have lived here for years and sudenly turn on this suacide bomber mode there like sleepers and one has to ask are we safe who do we beleve can we trust the muslim camunity in general

  • 3.
  • At 12:55 AM on 11 Aug 2006,
  • Matt Baker wrote:

don't forget this is all about making money.
Companies have always worked with the governments in power.
BT have admitted providing links into RAF Menwith Hill to allow the USA/UK to spy on british and european citizens so what is new.
Lets clean up our own house before making comments on our neighbours.

  • 4.
  • At 06:05 PM on 14 Aug 2006,
  • Ian Downing wrote:

It is only because the US considers China its new best friend (it can make a fortune out of items produced in archaic undemocratic sweatboxes then labelled with respectable high street names). That we even trade with China. It a backward represive regime that will jump through hoops to get accepted, provided that this does not mean change at the top.

This is a country still at the stage Europe was at five hundred years ago. It is going to change to 21st century values at the snap of fingers, just because the US says, I don't think so.

  • 5.
  • At 01:27 AM on 15 Aug 2006,
  • Qpiine wrote:

I think the real problem here is that when criticising Yahoo, Google etc., we really don't have a leg to stand on. Every one of us has a slew of products which were 'Made in China'. We can't live without China, and neither can big business- it is therefore utter hypocrisy to expect big business to live by moral standards that we ourselves cannot live up to.

And ultimately, wouldn't business love to do away with all that troublesome disruption and uncertainty involved in elections?

The Chinese model of corporate capitalism may well turn out to be the most efficient model for an oil-starved, climatically-challenged future, where people have to do as they are told.

  • 7.
  • At 12:37 PM on 16 Aug 2006,
  • Mick Johnston wrote:

I can't see why we should complain about Google or any other company compromising their principles to do business in China when our own Governments (UK & US) are constantly making compromises with abhorrent regimes the world over. If we in Britain really believe there should be no compromise with those Governments guilty of Human Rights abuses we'd have virtually no one to do business with - including the US.

Finally, I'm sure that most of the people raging against Yahoo et al quite happily buy Chinese products - especially as they're so cheap.

  • 8.
  • At 12:42 PM on 16 Aug 2006,
  • Mick Johnston wrote:

I can't see why we should complain about Google or any other company compromising their principles to do business in China when our own Governments (UK & US) are constantly making compromises with abhorrent regimes the world over. If we in Britain really believe there should be no compromise with those Governments guilty of Human Rights abuses we'd have virtually no one to do business with - including the US.

Finally, I'm sure that most of the people raging against Yahoo et al quite happily buy Chinese products - especially as they're so cheap.

  • 9.
  • At 11:09 AM on 06 Feb 2007,
  • Susanne Kellner-Johnson wrote:

The NHS in UK also monitors access on internet from wards and OT. They refuse access to certain sites...

Susanne Kellner-Johnson
Prisoner of Concsience on mental ward 4, Airedale Hospital, Steeton, West Yorkshire, UK

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