Google China
Google has been accused of 'collaborating with persecutors'

Congress to investigate Google's China decision

Search giant's China crisis deepens

Iain Thomson

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo will be the subjects of a US congressional committee over agreements to censor internet services to Chinese citizens.

Chris Smith, chairman of the house subcommittee that oversees global human rights, has announced that he will hold a hearing on 16 February to investigate the conduct of US technology firms in China.

Advertisement

"It is astounding that Google, whose corporate philosophy is 'Don't be evil', would enable evil by co-operating with China's censorship policies just to make a buck," said Smith, a Republican representing New Jersey.

"China's policy of cutting off the free flow of information is prohibitive for the growth of democracy and the rule of law. Many Chinese have suffered imprisonment and torture in the service of truth, and now Google is collaborating with their persecutors."

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco are being asked to attend and explain their behaviour.

Also scheduled to testify are James Keefe, State Department senior advisor for China and Mongolia, Julien Pain from Reporters Without Borders, and Harry Wu from the LaoGai Research Foundation.

It's been a busy week for Google in Washington. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy sent a letter (PDF) to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting information about the Department of Justice's subpoenas to four major internet companies seeking data on the search habits of millions of Americans. 

Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, asked in his letter for the types of information the Justice Department was seeking, how the Department intends to use that information while protecting Americans' privacy and civil liberties, and whether the Department will issue any additional subpoenas to internet firms that seek personally identifiable information.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

Google

Google bows to great firewall of China

Search giant under fire for censorship

China tightens web censorship

Extended powers for the 'Great Firewall of China'

Microsoft Sino-Indian deal sounds warning bell

Global software powerhouse will alter the sourcing landscape, warns Gartner

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

eu flag

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 6 Nov 09

This week, Europe decides what to do with illegal file sharers

Intel unveils its micro server platform

Small-enclosure systems take aim at hosting market

IT white papers

Search white papers

Top categories

Poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

What is the biggest problem your firm faces as a result of the data explosion?

View poll results

Advertisement

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Spotlight

Piracy, privacy and processing power set to be hot topics for V3.co.uk Summit

Have you got a burning desire to quiz experts from...

iPhone

World's first iPhone virus surfaces

Images of 80s icon Rick Astley spell trouble

Airvana HubBub

Airvana debuts 3G femtocell for offices

HubBub improves indoor network coverage for businesses

shopping key

E-commerce on brink of SaaS revolution

Figleaves founder argues platform-as-a-service vendor will emerge to shake up...

Primary Navigation