With China potentially being the next big market, its no wonder search giants like Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have turned up the competitive notch in China. But at the same time, it seems like the companies are willing to go further and further lengths to please the Chinese government. All three companies have been under heavy criticism in the past for censoring blogs, searches and websites containing sensitive topics. But most recently, Yahoo seemed to top off the icing on the cake when they allegedly provided information to the Chinese government to track down a journalist who
revealed "state secrets" in an email to a foreigner. Ultimately, the journalist was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Its bad enough when the government is cracking down on its own citizens but when large corporations start to aid that effort, the road to democracy just suddenly took a u-turn. Normally, the thought of internationalization and attracting foreign investment is usually reason enough to clean up their human rights act and while I'm sure it has had some effect on China, this is also an unique case in that the companies need China as much as China needs them if not more. Given China's market potential, I'm sure an uncooperative company can be easily replaced by another company on their hands and knees eager to do what it takes to please the government. So how far are the companies willing to go in order to achieve a pivotal foothold in China? Is this foothold worth giving up in order to uphold the values we enjoy in America? Seems to me that these companies need to bind together to remove China from their power controlling pedestal. And although some of us shudder at the thought of companies controlling the government, I think that this can be one of those exceptions. Afterall, this is an unique case.
Found via
TechDirt
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