By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China – Internet censorship is by no means a new concept to Chinese citizens. However, recent activity, instigated a surprising decision by Google to cease cooperation with Chinese government censors, and possibly, a four-year effort to do business in China. The effort is propelled largely by U.S. business and technology communities and human-rights advocacy groups. The central concern is over China’s human rights and free speech restraints.
Google announced the decision after discovering “highly sophisticated and targeted attacks” on dozens of Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China. Google stated that it was not alone. A spokesperson of the internet corporation said some 20 other companies were also targets of cyber attacks from China.
Human Rights Watch said that Google’s decision spotlights the importance of freedom of expression, and privacy online and illustrates the persistent risk to human rights posed by governments that view the free flow of information as a threat. To this, Arvind Ganesan, director of Human Rights Watch’s corporations and human rights program said, “A transnational attack on privacy is chilling, and Google’s response sets a great example.” She went on to say that, “At the same time, this incident underscores the need for governments and companies to develop policies that safeguard rights.”
Prior to Google’s most recent announcement, a Google senior vice president, Jonathan Rosenberg, issued an online manifesto back in December that placed Google’s business and ethical interests squarely behind open information, and against censorship. Less than one month ago he posted, “There are forces aligned against the open Internet — governments who control access, companies who fight in their own self-interests to preserve the status quo,” and “they are powerful, and if they succeed we will find ourselves inhabiting an Internet of fragmentation, stagnation, higher prices, and less competition.”
High company officials at Google are not alone. A Google engineer stated in a blog that the company’s popular Gmail service, which was a target of the Chinese hackers, will henceforth employ extra encryption by default.
Google’s actions also highlight the growing dangers faced by foreign information technology firms in China where the government devotes massive financial and human resources to censor the Internet and to hunt down and punish citizens who hold views which the ruling Chinese Communist Party disagrees with. To date, Google and other companies have acquiesced to Chinese government demands to censor information.
Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor, and a founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said that Google’s action had raised the ethical bar for foreign investors across China. In a recent interview he stated, “I think every major outside firm is clearly going to have to do a reality check with itself in the wake of the Google announcement.”
Regardless of Google’s recently announced business decision, the rights of Chinese citizens to uncensored internet information continues to be a major international human rights concern, and Google’s actions appear to be one step to resist kowtowing to the government’s demands.
For more information, please see:
The New York Times – Far-Ranging Support for Google’s China Move – January 14, 2010
The Guardian – China: Google Challenges Censorship – January 14, 2010
CNN News – Google reports China-based attack, says pullout possible – January 13, 2010