Well, from the looks of things people are not too happy with the whole search engine cooperation bit with China. Then again, as I read more and more into it, I think that I can see why…

The Chinese government uses the Internet as a tool of repression to crush dissent and monitor usage, says Congressman Christopher Smith, chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.

Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, made the remark in an opening statement at a February 15 hearing on “The Internet in China: A Tool for Freedom or Suppression?”

“[T]wo of the most essential pillars that prop up totalitarian regimes are the secret police and propaganda,” Smith said. “Yet for the sake of market share and profits, leading U.S. companies like Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Microsoft have compromised both the integrity of their product and their duties as responsible corporate citizens. They have aided and abetted the Chinese regime to prop up both of these pillars, propagating the message of the dictatorship unabated and supporting the secret police in a myriad of ways, including surveillance and invasion of privacy, in order to effectuate the massive crackdown on its citizens.”

The Chinese government has detained 49 “cyberdissidents” and 32 journalists for posting information on the Internet critical of the regime, according to Smith. [Read the rest]

[tags]tool of repression,chinese government,totalitarian regimes,the internet in china[/tags]