Vice President of Cisco Systems Inc. Mark Chandler, left to right, Vice President for Corporate Communications and Public Affairs of Google, Inc. Elliot Schrage, Managing Director of Federal Government Affairs and Associate General Counsel of Microsoft Corporation Jack Krumholtz and General Counsel of Yahoo! Inc. Michael Callahan, appear before a joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations and the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, on the 'Internet in China: A Tool for Freedom or Suppression?' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006, in Washington. (Photo: AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
From left to right, Mark Chandler, Cisco's general counsel, Elliot Schrage, a vice president for corporate communications at Google, Jack Krumholtz, managing director of federal government affairs and associate general counsel for Microsoft, and Michael Callahan, Yahoo's general counsel before a joint hearing on the Internet in China. (Photo: AP/ Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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WASHINGTON – In the most extensive public review of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco Systems after widespread criticism broke out on their compliance to Chinese law, a House human rights hearing put the internet firms on the spot for doing business at the cost of human rights.
"The poor guys," said T. Kumar, advocacy director for Asia and Pacific Amnesty International USA, describing the corporate executives at the hearing. "They were really put on the spot."
The tech firms faced the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations and the subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific in the much-anticipated session that left no seat empty in the hearing room. In a nearly seven-hour session, the internet companies were grilled on their conformity with the censorship policies and requirements of the Chinese government.
"Your abhorrent activities in China are a disgrace," said Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, according to USA Today. "I simply don't understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night."
Despite human rights concerns, executives of the four companies defended their actions, all saying that they had to comply with local law and insisting on their beneficial presence in China. In what seemed like futile defenses, arguments lasted around 4-1/2 hours, according to Kumar.
"They didn't know what to do," he said.
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At one heated moment, Lantos asked the companies if they were "ashamed or proud" of their records in China. Some of the subcommittee members remained unconvinced by the defensive responses.
Global human rights subcommittee Chairman Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), who convened the hearing, plans to introduce the Global Online Freedom Act today, according to Kumar, to restrict internet firms from censoring basic political or religious terms.
China's control over media has raised serious concerns among human rights and religious freedom groups for its repression of freedom of expression and its effects against minority faith groups. Google's latest censored version of its search engine in China, launched last month, added to the uproar that began over a year ago.
