Lawmakers bash top high-tech firms for yielding to China — This is what you get for not contributing enough money to political campaigns.
Washington — Four of the country’s largest technology companies endured withering criticism over their controversial business practices in China Wednesday from members of Congress who accused firms such as Yahoo and Google of trampling civil liberties in order to make money.
The two Silicon Valley giants were summoned to Capitol Hill, along with Microsoft and Cisco Systems, to answer for such practices as censoring search results and turning over e-mail records of dissidents to the government in Beijing.
“Your abhorrent activities in China are a disgrace,” said Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, who helped organize the hearings before the House International Relations Committee. “I cannot understand how your corporate executives sleep at night.”
The Congressional pot calling the public kettle black.
related link
Lack of Sleep, America’s top health problem
I never could understand how Tom Lantos sleeps at night. Even ardent supporters of Sharon and Likud [for example] were embarrassed by his call to replace dictators like Saddam Hussein with dictators who would support Israel and the United States.
You might also be aware that his “human rights” caucus has no standing as a part of Congress. It’s just there to hype his career and contributions.
So our congressmen, who passed the patriot act and expect telecom providers to provide unlimited access for non-warrant wiretaps is criticising telecom companies for going along with china’s speech restrictions?
Yes, it sort of like the pot calling the kettle black. Politicians should be the last to through stones. What a bunch of hypocrites.
This is what you get for not contributing enough money to political campaigns.
I was thinking the same thing about Britney – would Mineta have publicly chastised a contributor?? 🙂
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060213/ap_en_ce/child_safety_spears
Well it is hilarious that one of Google’s founding principles was non censorship. Funny how they abandoned that when the boatload of money showed up.
American pretends like it wants freedom and democracy everywhere, but when they get the chance to buy from Wal-Mart goods and Mexican labor from countries where democracy could be used to help people, they jump on it quicker than Britney Spears can chuck her baby on the wheel.
As much as I despise Yahoo for turning in that Chinese reporter and caving in to our own government, how about if this committee instead of looking at what is happening in China, looked instead at why the NSA is spying on citizens without warrants? If there is cause they can get a warrant. What keeps the government from listening in to the strategy making conversations of the Democratic party? What keeps the NSA from spying on congress itself? Do laws only apply to Democrats?
Yeah I heard about that this morning on npr… npr sais that “Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo” had been in a pow camp in ww2 or in a german concentration camp during ww2, or something like that (traffic was rough, I was concentrating on the road).
That guy also made a allusion comparing IBM selling ze germans technology to keep track of the death in the death camps; to Cisco Systems and Microsoft bowing down China’s rules and laws.
BS. This elected moron is taking an occurance of something that happened to him (a regretable occurance, for sure) , and then blowing everything regarding this out of proportion.
Corporations that want to operate in other countries must follow the “law of the land” in those countries. If this public official has problems with that, then I suggest that he go over to China, stand in Tianamen Square, and see how far he gets with those arguments…
How do stupid people like this get elected in the first place? jebus…
How many of the people criticizing Yahoo and Google voted for most favored nation trading status for China?
>What keeps the government from listening in to the strategy making >conversations of the Democratic party? What keeps the NSA from >spying on congress itself? Do laws only apply to Democrats?
No. LBJ listened in on Barry Goldwater’s campaign meetings. Nixon defended his actions in his book by saying that’s what they’d done to him.
It’s what the Chinese people wanted that should matter; restrictive as it is, they want Yahoo and Google there.
You do realise that whatever your congressmen and sentators, etc will say to these companies will have no effect whatsoever unless these companies are HEAVILY fined?
AB CD
Now there you go again. Where did you get the comment that Johnson had listened in on Goldwater’s campaign? Could you post a link please?
Angel
Fined for what? Foreign laws do not apply on American soil and American laws do not apply on foreign soil. The only thing Congress can do is show outrage and try moral suasion. The same way they tried to shame the Big Oil companies into lowering their profits.
Don’t forget that the Department of Justice is suing Google to hand over the history of peoples surfing and search habits. I don’t see much difference between the two, morally. You obey the laws of the land you work in and until the American Government stops all trade with China, there is little else they can do.
Dvorak said it all!
Pot, Kettle, Black.