Hacking the “Great Firewall of China”
Search “Tiananmen” on Google and it will return images of the 1989 pro-Democracy rally in Beijing, and the Chinese government’s military crackdown. That is, unless you’re searching in China, where you’re more likely to see tourist photos of the public square than any hint of civil unrest.
As with its state-controlled newspapers, radio and television, the Communist Party maintains tight control over the internet — censoring websites critical of the government, and often with the help of America’s largest and best known technology firms.
“It is not something we are happy about,” said Google VP Elliot Schrage, testifying at a Congressional hearing back in 2006. But Schrage said that American firms must abide by Chinese regulations if they are to do business in that country.
The competition, he said, “would like nothing more than their three American counterparts to go to the Chinese government and say, ‘We won’t cooperate with those restrictions.’ Because that competitor will go to the Chinese government, I believe, and say, ‘Great! because we will.’”
Schrage and executives from Cisco, Microsoft and Yahoo faced tough questioning from lawmakers who were concerned, not only about censorship, but instances where U.S. companies allegedly provided Chinese authorities with user data on dissidents, leading to arrests, imprisonment and beatings.
For the past three years, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) has been fighting for legislation that would penalize American companies that aid foreign regimes in such activities. Click on the video to hear his comments.
This story has two great ironies. First, U.S. internet firms — some of the strongest conduits and advocates for free speech in America are supplying the Chinese government with the means to suppress it. Second, some of those most actively trying to penetrate China’s “great firewall” are Chinese dissidents living in the U.S.
We feature one of those dissidents on tonight’s Fox Report w/ Shepard Smith. More details later.