Censorship in China


Companies Implicated in Abuses

Nearly 4 years since Amnesty first reported on this issue, a new breed of abuse is emerging. The primary US companies implicated are Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google.

Yahoo!
Demonstrator holding poster of Shi TaoIn 2002 Yahoo voluntarily signed the 'Public Pledge on Self-discipline for the Chinese Internet Industry'. Among other things, the Pledge requires Yahoo to 'refrain from producing, posting or disseminating harmful information that may jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability, contravene laws and regulations and spread superstition and obscenity'. Yahoo was under no legal obligation to sign this pledge. By taking this step, the company has aligned itself with the Chinese Government's approach to suppressing dissent, damaging its own credibility in the process. Yahoo! claims that the pledge does not impose a greater obligation than already exists in local law, however by signing this pledge Yahoo! is agreeing with and publicly expressing its support for some of the requests of the Chinese government that are inconsistent with international human rights standards, specifically freedom of expression. Since signing the pledge, Yahoo! has continued to censor search results via the Chinese version of its search engine.

Of grave concern to Amnesty are the allegations that Yahoo (YHOO) has cooperated with authorities in China in events which led to the detention of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist. Mr. Shi was imprisoned solely for the legitimate exercise of his right to seek, receive and impart information, as guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. According to the court transcript of the Changsha Intermediate People's Court of Hunan Province Criminal Verdict, evidence presented by the prosecutor that led to the sentencing of Mr. Shi included account-holder information provided by Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd.

Yahoo has admitted that their subsidiary provided this evidence by correcting the record to state that the information was supplied not directly by Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., but by Yahoo China, which is held by Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. On April 27, 2005, Mr. Shi received a ten-year prison term for sending information about a Communist Party decision through his Yahoo email account to a website based in the United States. Mr. Shi's appeal was denied on June 2, 2005.
Amnesty International considers Mr. Shi a prisoner of conscience, as he was imprisoned for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and opinion. TAKE ACTION NOW.

In a disturbingly similar case, it has recently come to light that Yahoo released information to the Chinese government which could have contributed to the arrest of another dissident, Li Zhi. Mr. Li was jailed for eight years in 2003, after posting comments that criticized government corruption. His case was highlighted in the 2004 Amnesty report, Controls tighten as Internet activism grows.
Microsoft
Amnesty's findings in June 2006 show that that Microsoft filters the results of searches for political sensitive terms. In doing a search on beta.search.msn.com.cn for a political sensitive term such as "Tiananmen Square" a page comes up stating "Certain content was removed from the results of this search". We consider this operation censorship.

Microsoft has admitted that it responds to directions from the Chinese government by restricting users of its MSN Spaces product from using certain terms in their account name, space name, space sub-title or in photo captions:
Pursuant to the direction of the Chinese government, Spaces users may not use certain terms in their account name, space name, or space sub-title – or in photo captions. We employ a 'restricted term' list for this purpose and we make every effort to keep the list to a minimum number of terms.
At the same time the company asserts that MSN Spaces does not filter blog content in any way. Amnesty International considers this claim to be at odds with the facts.

Although it appears that MSN Spaces users are not prohibited now from using words like "democracy", "freedom", or "human rights" when creating blogs, as they were when Microsoft launched MSN spaces in China in 2005, recent tests carried out in June 2006 demonstrated the continuing blocking of certain words and terms including "Tiananmen incident" in the title of blogs.

As the list of censored terms appears to have undergone changes, Microsoft should report publicly the list of all words banned at any particular time.

Of further concern, in January 2006, stories surfaced that Microsoft had cooperated with Chinese authorities to shut down a controversial blog. Chinese journalist and blogger Zhao Jing (also known as Michael Anti) used MSN Spaces online to run his own blog. Zhao, who is an active critic of censorship in China, eventually had his blog shut down by Microsoft on December 30, 2005 following a request from Chinese authorities. The blog, which is hosted on servers located in the United States, was removed and was therefore censored not only in China but globally.
Learn more about how Microsoft is censoring blogs. »
Google
Even Google (GOOG), with their unofficial motto, "Don't be evil," is not immune. In January 2006 they launched a self-censoring Chinese search engine - the latest in this string of examples of global Internet companies caving in to pressure from the Chinese government. The service curtails the rights of Chinese Internet users to the freedom of expression and freedom of information enjoyed in other countries. Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan, released a statement from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying,

"While acknowledging that Google has taken a number of steps to ensure access of Chinese users to the Internet, Amnesty International is nonetheless dismayed at the growing global trend in the IT industry.

"Whether succumbing to demands from Chinese officials or anticipating government concerns, companies that impose restrictions that infringe on human rights are being extremely short-sighted. The agreements the industry enters into with the Chinese government, whether tacit or written, go against the IT industry's claim that it promotes the right to freedom of information of all people, at all times, everywhere."

Read the full press release. »


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