Amnesty castigates Yahoo, Google in report on internet repression

Amnesty castigates Yahoo, Google in report on internet repression

25 minutes ago

Amnesty International has begun a global campaign against internet
repression, which it says is a growing problem that is hampering the
potential of the internet to curb human rights abuses.

"[T]he internet's potential for change is being undermined - by
governments unwilling to tolerate this free media outlet, and by
companies willing to help them repress free speech," it said in a report
published Thursday from its London headquarters.

The human rights watchdog is particularly concerned about the role of
U.S.-based search engines such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Google in China.

The multinational firms have co-operated with China in censoring the
web, preventing millions of Chinese from having access to information
about human rights abuses.

The companies "have violated their stated corporate values and policies"
in their pursuit of China's booming internet market, the report said.

Among the violations:

- Yahoo has passed evidence about its users to Chinese authorities,
including information that led to the prosecution of two Chinese
journalists.

- Google has censored its international search engine in China.

- Microsoft has blocked a blog at government request.

Amnesty called on all three companies to oppose Chinese government
requests to block information and track users who post controversial
materials.

It urged the companies to call for the release of cyber-dissidents and
journalists jailed for freely expressing their views.

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft should make public what filters they use to
block access to materials in China, the report said.

China has about 123 million people online, but the government has an
extensive surveillance and filtering system to prevent them from
accessing material considered obscene or politically subversive.

"The internet can be a great tool for the promotion of human rights -
activists can tell the world about abuses in their country at the click
of a mouse," Amnesty said in its report.

However, repression is a problem from Iran to the Maldives and Cuba to
Vietnam, it said.

Websites are blocked, news is filtered, chat rooms are policed and
people who try to use the web to communicate are persecuted, it said.

Amnesty is beginning a web petition to promote internet freedom, which
it plans to present to the United Nations.

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