US Internet companies snub Congressional hearing
“The leading US-based Internet companies are showing little interest in attending a Congressional briefing on worries that the firms are bending to the wishes of China’s censors.
Microsoft and Cisco Systems have refused to attend the event, while Google and Yahoo are non-committal, officials said.”
Red Bank Calendar
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if the internet companies were required to play hard ball with the chinese govt(and stand up for human rights), wont we demand that of ALL companies doing business with china? what will be the overall world economic impact of such a move?
i agree that it’s dodgy territory.
Perhaps rephrasing your question to take out the word “economic” makes it more or less dodgy. I’m not sure. I’m thinking hard about it and have been for weeks and I’m still not sure I have an answer. It’s complicated but complexity is no excuse for ignoring a problem.
In looking at your question again, I’m quite certain that I’d prefer to see ALL companies that currently do business to play hard ball with the chinese government w/r/t human rights. A unified front of companies backed by morally conscientious stockholders would likely fare far better against an oppressive Chinese government than any amount of military muscle. Of course that reeks of imperialism and I fear that morally conscientious stockholders might be pretty hard to come by.
Of course, we must demand ethical behavior of all American companies in China. As mentioned in comment 5 of the “Where’s the Outrage” thread, the ‘imperial’ barrier has already been breached on the financial ethics of American companies in foreign lands, by the FCPA. When the U.S. has the moral high ground, such imperialism is more readily accepted by other countries. Refer to my recent reply to Chronfish in that thread.
BTW, I just e-mailed Rep.Chris Smith to ask him what he’s going to do about the companies thumbing their noses at his committee.
this question came up on my commute by SOMEONE ELSE… why is it OK to ask companies doing business with china to acknowledge that “When the U.S. has the moral high ground, such imperialism is more readily accepted by other countries.” shouldnt we be happy that the bush administration has taken that to heart?
re: “bush administration has taken that to heart?”
I’m not sure what they’ve take to heart (i’m not saying they haven’t, i just don’t know what that is. Citation/example/link/data supporting that statement would be appreciated. Thanks.