Groups Praise Google
Human rights activists praised Google for announcing it will stop censoring its search results for Chinese users, an action that could force the firm to leave China altogether. Google announced the move Tuesday after revealing that its computers and those of other U.S. firms had been hacked by a source originating in China, an attack the Internet search firm said was aimed at gaining access to the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
"A transnational attack on privacy is chilling, and Google's response sets a great example," Human Rights Watch's Arvind Ganesan said in a statement. "At the same time, this incident underscores the need for governments and companies to develop policies that safeguard rights." Google began operations in China in 2006, and believed at the time that "the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results," according to a blog post from Google Senior Vice President David Drummond.
Amnesty International said for many years it has been calling on foreign firms operating in China "to respect the right to freedom of expression for Web users and not to cooperate with the authorities in censoring the Internet and self regulating the flow of information." It praised Google for finally taking such a stand, but also said it is "important that Google raises with the Chinese government its concerns about hacking activities originating in China," Roseann Rife, the group's deputy Asia-Pacific director, said in a statement.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association said Google's move and concerns that China's Internet censorship may violate international trade agreements may persuade Chinese leaders to abandon such efforts. "It is increasingly apparent that censorship is a barrier to trade, and that China cannot limit the free flow of information and still comply with its international trade obligations," CCIA CEO Ed Black said in a news release.
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