Fergie's Tech Blog

Amnesty Accuses U.S. Firms over China Web Censorship

Ben Blanchard writes for Reuters:

Microsoft Corp, Google Inc, and Yahoo Inc have breached the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in colluding with China to censor the Internet, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The three publicly traded companies are ignoring their own stated commitments -- which in Google's case includes corporate motto "Don't be evil" -- and are in denial over the human rights implications of their actions, the group said.

"All three companies have, in one way or another, facilitated or concluded in the practice of censorship in China," London-based Amnesty said in a report.

"All three companies have demonstrated a disregard for their own internally driven and proclaimed policies. They have made promises ... which they failed to uphold in the face of business opportunities and pressure from the Chinese government," it said.

posted by Fergie @ 7/20/2006 06:45:00 AM