Originally published February 23 2006
Chinese efforts to quash political dissidents on the web supported by U.S. government
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
For the Guardian Unlimited, Victor Keegan criticizes U.S. computer giants like Yahoo and Microsoft, as well as the U.S. government, for its cooperation in China's efforts to suppress free speech on the web.
There is one player that has been curiously absent from the climbdowns, shutdowns and other nefarious activities that the likes of Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have been engaging in in China.
China is now a member of the World Trade Organisation and should be brought to task for erecting non-tariff barriers to trade.
The only noise coming from Washington is from members of the Congressional Human Rights caucus, which has criticised four US firms for putting profits before American principles of free speech.
The companies, surprise, surprise, did not even bother to attend the hearing.
In its short life it has become a mass of contradictions: a company 99% dependent on advertising that doesn't advertise itself, a company at the forefront of the communications revolution that doesn't communicate much itself, and an organisation that famously spurned some of the demands of Wall Street that now bends to the Chinese government in a move that can only be explained ultimately by the need to keep earnings per share up.
It is not as if Google was doing badly in China.
Though it is difficult to get reliable statistics (and Google says it has zero confidence in market share figures for China) its "clean" search engine appears to have 20% of the market and is highly rated by users of the indigenous Chinese search engines, even though it is slowed down by the Chinese authorities.
Google is still a wonderful company, selling - or rather not selling - an exploding range of indispensable products with an awesome business model.
Oh, and one final bit of advice - which won't be taken - for the Chinese government: Why don't you lift the lid a bit on censorship before it blows off.
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