What They Would Never Tolerate in America They Subsidize in China---For Cash

The moral midgets of the tech sector continue to underwhelm with their moral equivalence. Here's Congressman Chris Smith with some bad news for Google, Yahoo, and Cisco:

On Wednesday, I conducted a hearing to examine China's human-rights record. Over the years, I have held more than 25 hearings on human-rights abuses in China and although some economic progress has been made, the human-rights situation remains abysmal.

Among other things, this week's visit of President Hu Jintao to the United States provides an opportunity to expose the terrible human-rights situation in China today on a global stage. And it will, I hope, convey our unshakeable regard and commitment to press Beijing for serious, measurable, and desirable reform. Any relationship we have with China must begin with a fundamental respect for basic human rights. The people of China deserve no less. It is our moral duty to stand with the oppressed, not with the oppressor.

State Department and other human-rights watchdogs indicate that Chinese government's repression of its citizens continues. In fact, the current regime is one of the worst violators of human rights in the world. The most recent State Department Human Rights Report for China is approximately 45,000 words and lists 22 major rights problems.

Beijing views the information on the Internet as a potential threat to the party's control over the people and the monopolization of political power. And so, they restrict it. The freedom to publish information and read news on the web unfiltered does not exist and individuals who attempt to speak freely are frequently imprisoned and tortured. U.S. corporations should not be aiding in that process. Yet at a February hearing I chaired on global Internet freedom, some of the biggest corporations in America revealed how they have partnered with the Chinese secret police to find, apprehend, convict, and jail religious believers and pro-democracy advocates.

Though Yahoo voiced their profound regret for the imprisonment of Shi Tao for 10 years, they couldn't say — and didn't seem to know — how many others were condemned to jail and torture because of their willingness to comply with the secret police. When asked under what conditions — court order, police demand, a fishing trip — Yahoo surrenders e-mails and files to authorities, their representative declined to reveal the information because it would break Chinese law. Sadly, it was revealed at our hearing that Yahoo's cooperation with the Chinese police has seemingly lead to the imprisonment of another democracy advocate, Jiang Lijun.

Google, for its part, created a search engine tailored to the wishes of the People's Republic of China. Type in any number of searches, for "human rights," or "Tiananmen Square massacre," or "Falun Gong," and the site conveniently reroutes the web surfer to government propaganda — much of it heavily anti-American, anti-Bush, and full of hate. Google responded to concerns about enabling a dictatorship to expand its message of hate by hiring big-time lobbying firms like Podesta-Mattoon, and the DCI group to put a good face on it all — and presumably kill my pending legislation, the Global Online Freedom Act of 2006.

Amazingly, Cisco showed no concern whatsoever that its "Policenet" technology — a tool for good in the hands of legitimate law enforcement, but a tool of repression in the hands of Chinese police — has now linked and expanded the capabilities of the Chinese police. Microsoft censors and shuts down blogs that the government objects to. (So I'm guessing Bill Gates kept human rights off the agenda when he hosted Hu on Tuesday.)

I had an opportunity some months back to work for Cisco. I am delighted that I didn't take that opportunity. You can't buy back your soul with a hiring bonus.