In The Observer, David Smith reports from the U.N.-sponsored Internet Governance Forum in Athens:
This time there was no hiding place. Countries accused of turning the internet into a tool of repression – and the companies accused of helping them do it – were confronted with the full force of international condemnation at a special United Nations conference in Athens last week.
Officials from China, Iran and other nations notorious for censoring websites and persecuting bloggers heard speakers at the inaugural Internet Governance Forum denounce restrictions on freedom of expression online. The IT corporations Google, Microsoft and Cisco Systems were made to defend their businesses in China. Microsoft admitted that it might have to consider quitting the country. [Full text]
During the conference, China representative Yang Xiaokun was quoted as saying:
In China, we don’t have software blocking Internet sites. Sometimes we have trouble accessing them. But that’s a different problem. I know that some colleagues listen to the BBC in their offices from the Webcast. And I’ve heard people say that the BBC is not available in China or that it’s blocked. I’m sure I don’t know why people say this kind of thing. We do not have restrictions at all.
