Reporters Without Border challenges 14 major Internet and computer firms about their activity in China

Reporters Without Borders today called on the heads of 14 leading
international corporations supplying computer and Internet equipment
to China to take a stand against the government’s repression of the
Internet.

It said some of the firms ? which are based in North America, Europe,
Japan and South Korea ? were selling material directly helping the
government to spy on and crack down on people using the Internet,
while others simply closed their eyes to the situation.  All of them,
it said, should feel responsible for the plight of China’s embattled
Internet users.
 
The organisation sent a letter to each company’s CEO, along with the
first issue of a monthly newsletter, which they will receive
regularly, called Internet Repression News, recording the latest
government efforts to stifle freedom of expression online.

“We are asking them to bear in mind the contents of the newsletter
when making their business decisions,” said Reporters Without Borders
secretary-general Robert Ménard.

He noted that the 14 firms targeted each do different kinds of
business with China.  Cisco Systems supplies special online spying
systems while Intel just sells its standard products.  Yahoo! agreed
to change its portal and search-engine to facilitate censorship in
exchange for access to the Chinese market, while South Korea’s Samsung
is simply selling its goods to a neighbouring country.

The letters to the CEOs outline the situation, note the degree of
responsibility each has in its relations with China and call on them
to use their influence to get the government to allow more Internet
freedom.

The Chinese government is presently censoring hundreds of websites ?
of Western media, of political dissidents and any webpages judged to
be critical of the government or the ruling Communist Party. It has
also acquired, with the help of foreign companies, very sophisticated
technical means to spy on the Internet, its users and the messages
they send.

The police constantly hunt down cyber-dissidents and 46 are currently
in prison for setting up independent news websites or simply for
posting material online criticising the authorities.  Examples
include:

Huang Qi, who was arrested on 3 June 2000, on the eve of the 11th
anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, after he posted on his
website 6-4tianwang.com material from foreign-based dissident groups.
Former cellmates say he was regularly beaten in prison and was refused
medication he needed.

“Du Daobin, who has written many articles about human rights and
democracy and was arrested on 28 October in Yingcheng (in the central
province of Hubei).  He had launched a protest movement to “simulate
imprisonment” by asking dozens of people to shut themselves up in
darkness in their houses for a day in solidarity with jailed
cyber-dissident Liu Di (released on the 28th of November).

“Yang Zili, creator of the website lib.126.com (better known as “Yang
Li’s Garden of Ideas”), who has been in prison since March 2001.  He
had often advocated political reforms on his site, criticised
repression of the Falungong spiritual movement and deplored the
poverty of the country’s farmworkers.  He was jailed on 2 November for
eight years.”


Attached to this press release:
-  List of CEOs and companies targeted.
-  The current issue of Internet Repression News. 


More details :
www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=272