WebLog 7 & 8

Question 1: The US government should institute formal policy that bars overseas sales of systems that provide targeted Internet surveillance if such systems are used to violate human rights or freedom of speech (such as the current internet censorship in China).

Google, an American based company, is known for helping Internet users find websites and general information. If there is something one is unsure of, we can use the phrase, “just Google it”! Is it right for an American based company to “violate human rights or freedom of speech”? To continue my example, Google is expanding oversees to China and they are agreeing to comply with Chinas censorship, even though that is against our rights as Americans. After looking at the history of Google on the Google website I found the Google mission statement, which is “Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful”(Google). After reading their statement it sure doesn’t seem like they would branch to China and then censor their products. To answer the original question, I do believe that the US Government should be able to keep businesses like Google from selling their products to other countries if it means violating human rights. We as Americans are one hundred percent about freedom of speech and human rights, and if American companies are then agreeing to censor material in other countries we are no better than them. I believe that this is going against everything we stand for and isn’t right.
Yet, in Google’s argument is they are reportedly “the second-most widely used information-gathering service in China after that of Baidu, a Chinese company, and is the least censored, according to one study”(Figliola 7). After reading an excerpt from “U.S. Initiatives to Promote Global Internet Freedom: Issues, Policy, and Technology”, I also learned that when searching on Google in China and a page is blocked, it doesn’t just say error, it just says that by the Chinese laws one is unable to view this web page, so the searcher knows there is more information, but the Chinese government is just not allowing it. I personally think that shows that Google obviously does not agree with the laws in China. They also claim in a congressional committee that working with China isn’t easy for them. They feel as though the censorship in going against their beliefs. In this case, I still question, why do it then? Overall, I can’t really try to defend Google, because I personally do not agree what they are doing is right, and clearly neither do they. I feel like it is going against the basic nature of us as Americans.

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/148797.pdf
This pdf has a lot of information not only on Googles relations with China, but Yahoo, Cisco and Microsoft.

Question 2: The evolving capabilities to speak out and criticize the Chinese government using microblogs and other Internet social media will lead to more and greater freedoms for the Chinese people.


I was discussing China’s censorship with a friend of mine who is from China, and it helped me form the opinion that in the long run the Chinese people will not gain more freedom from microblogs and other Internet sites. As my Chinese friend, Kahim, put it, with Internet or no Internet, you can’t stop freedom of speech. They still have the capabilities to say way they want, no matter what, they just have to be careful what they say and how they say it, so they do not offend the government in a way that could get them in trouble. Using the social media in a way to criticize the government, I feel, will only lead to less freedom because they will just censor more and more material. After watching a YouTube video provided in class called “Great Firewall of China (Hungry Beast),” it is clear that no matter what new media the Chinese receive they are still significantly held back. For example, if they even upload something to the Internet that the Chinese government doesn’t agree with, their whole computer gets blocked. In this case they are banned in the way in which if they wanted to use certain pictures to put in their microblog that the government felt was offensive they would not be able to do so. Therefore, in this sense they cannot gain more freedoms, they are still just held back. After reading an article on a website titled ChinaVeiw, I almost changed my opinion. In this article it talks about how a man named Ai Weiwei, had an essay he had written censored. It was published in a magazine, and it stated a lot about the government that the government did not approve of. It was then ripped out of the magazines so the Chinese people were unable to view it. Even though the Chinese have the great firewall the article still circulated around online, so people were able to view it. This backs up what I stated earlier, the people are still able to say what they want, the government can only try to stop them to an extent. I am confused on why the government did not censor that article online though. This also proves that the use of the Internet does not necessarily give the Chinese people more freedom, just another way of expressing their opinion.
Overall I feel as though the Internet and microblogs do not give the Chinese people more freedoms. Their rights have not changed at all. They still are not allowed to do certain things on the Internet and if they choose to, they risk the chance of getting censored or what ever else the Chinese government may do. Yes, their horizons have broadened in the way in which they can now express themselves in multiple different ways, but they still have the same laws to abide by, and certain rules to follow. If people continue to ignore these laws and rules, it will only get them in trouble and possibly lead to more laws and more censorship.