By David Litterick in New York
US technology firms came in for their sternest criticism yet as they attempted to defend themselves against charges they help China oppress internal dissent in return for access to the country’s booming internet market.
At a committee hearing at the House of Representatives, Democratic congressman Tom Lantos told representatives from Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Microsoft that they had amassed great wealth and influence “but apparently very little social responsibility”.
“Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace,” he said. “I simply don’t understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night.”
Elliot Schrage, Google’s vice-president of global communications and public affairs, said “the requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship – something that runs counter to Google’s most basic values and commitments as a company”. Google decided to enter China because it “will make a meaningful, though imperfect, contribution to the overall expansion of access to information in China”.
Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan testified “these issues are larger than any one company, or any one industry. We appeal to the US government to do all it can to help us provide beneficial services to Chinese citizens lawfully and in a way consistent with our shared values”.
Google has been criticised for launching a Chinese internet-search service that will censor query results on topics like Tibet and human rights. Yahoo has been faulted for providing Chinese police with information that helped convict two dissidents.
China accused the US of hypocrisy. “It is unfair to slam web sites’ deletion of harmful content in China, which web sites in other countries like the US regularly do,” said Liu Zhengrong of the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office.
