From the San Jose Mercury News (registration required):
China is not a democracy and China’s government remains firmly committed to controlling what information reaches its citizens, a reality reinforced earlier this week by a new crackdown on freedom of speech online.
That’s a growing problem for Silicon Valley companies, which desperately want to be a part of China’s rapidly growing market — but don’t want to look like they are aiding and abetting government policies that are truly repugnant.
…Cisco, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all been accused of giving their support, or least refusing to oppose, government censorship in China.
The answer, so far ignored by the tech community, is for the companies to band together in a united front to encourage the growth of democratic ideals in China and elsewhere in the world.
…So how do Silicon Valley companies navigate between the lure of profits and the need to avoid behavior that would be objectionable at home?
I talked with two experts who independently made the same suggestion.
Sheridan Tatsuno, a consultant on Asian business issues in Santa Cruz, and Orville Schell, dean of the University of California-Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and a veteran commentator on China, both said no single company can stand alone against China’s government.
Instead, they said, technology companies must band together to declare their basic principles, and apply those principles consistently around the world. After all, China is far from the planet’s most repressive regime. China is rightly resentful when it’s singled out by the United States.
…China’s population arguably enjoys more prosperity and freedom today than it did immediately after the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 1989. And the government is ultimately fighting a losing battle in trying to choke free expression on the Internet.
That’s why Silicon Valley companies should continue to be involved in China, for their own benefit and for the benefit of the Chinese people. But it’s not enough for them to just say they’re following government orders in China. Silicon Valley must find a way to stand up for what’s right.
