Government officials continue to put pressure on U.S. technology companies to stop censorship in China. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, is joining other government officials to fight censorship in China and other countries.
Just two weeks after Google announced it would pull the plug on censored search information on its Google.cn service in China and weeks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged businesses to help stop censorship, Durbin has asked more than two dozen companies to outline what measures they will take to ensure that products and services do not facilitate human-rights abuses by the Chinese government.
Companies in the U.S. operate in many countries where the Internet is censored or where governments use technology to repress citizens. While citizens are stripped of freedom of speech, in some countries they are also persecuted and imprisoned if they violate Internet regulations, according to Durbin.
The senator’s letter to 30 companies, including Facebook, Skype, Twitter and Apple, comes a year after he asked technology companies to join a global network initiative. The GNI is a code of conduct for companies operating in countries that restrict the Internet.
Organizations such as the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C., have applauded the action.
While companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed with Durbin and the GNI, others such as Acer, Toshiba and Twitter never responded, according to Durbin.
“I commend Google for coming to the conclusion that cooperating with the ‘Great Firewall’ of China is inconsistent with their human-rights responsibilities,” Durbin said. “Google sets a strong example in standing up to the Chinese government’s continued failure to respect the fundamental human rights of free expression and privacy. I look forward to learning more about whether other American…