Panel Reschedules Google Hearing
After delaying it twice, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China has rescheduled its hearing on Internet freedom and Google's issues with China for next week. The March 24th hearing will explore whether China's regulation of the Internet is both a human rights and a trade issue.
"Witnesses will examine the challenges and hazards China's regulation of the Internet poses both to advocates of free expression and to foreign companies doing business in China; and possible ways for policymakers and private actors to respond to China's regulation of the Internet from both the human rights and trade perspectives," the commission, which was established by Congress in 2000 to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, said in a statement.
Google announced in January that it would stop censoring its search results for users in China after the firm revealed it had been the victim of a cyber attack originating from China that attempted to gain access to the Gmail accounts of human rights activists and other information.
Google has been negotiating with Chinese authorities to see if it is possible for the firm to remain in China if it does not abide by Chinese censorship rules. But recent reports indicate that Google may be preparing to pull out of the country, a move that appears to be making its Chinese advertising partners nervous. A group of advertisers sent a letter to Google asking for details about Google's plans in China and how the firms would be compensated if Google leaves, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Those expected to testify at the commission's hearing next week include Google's top Washington lobbyist, Alan Davidson, as well as Go Daddy Executive Vice President and General Counsel Christine Jones, Human Rights in China Executive Director Sharon Hom, Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black, and former Ambassador Mark Palmer. Black has argued that China's Internet censorship rules may violate its trade agreements.
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