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).
On one side, it is very immoral for private US companies to be allowed to sell internet surveillance systems to China; because it allows companies to profit by helping the Chinese government violate the human rights that the people who work in these corporations enjoy every day. On the other side however, this is a capitalist society and lassiez-faire; which is French for ‘let do,’ is very much in affect and thus the government is not legally allowed to interfere in the workings of private companies unless they are promoting illegal activities, which they technically are not.
While morally incorrect, the actions of these private companies are completely legal, making this subject very difficult to discuss. If the American forefathers were still alive, they would have suggested not involving ourselves with foreigners in anyway, however, had America never involved itself with foreign countries, we would be very ignorant, and we would not have much of the technology and resources that we have today.
Looking at public opinion, as discussed in Therese Poletti’s news article “Chinese censorship divides America,” the American public is divided on the issue of private US companies supporting internet surveillance. “About 47 percent of 1,056 respondents said they believed content companies should not allow such censorship, while 40 percent believed companies should comply with restrictions. Thirteen percent were undecided.”(Poletti, 2007) While the survey that Poletti took is relatively small compared to the size of the American public, it still helps explain that not even the American public is completely for or against either side of the argument.
“Obeying Orders” an article made by an anonymous author in the Washington Post discusses that it is right for private US corporations to provide their services to China, as it helps build a better relationship with China, and make society more open, even if it doesn’t necessarily support democracy. This opinion is supported by Bill Thompson in his article “Why Google in China makes sense.” Thompson argues that despite the lack of democracy in the censored Chinese Google, it still supports the sale of free information in China. Thompson also discusses that no country has a truly free and open internet; in the US, despite the 1st Amendment guaranteeing free speech, that all search engines use their terms and conditions to limit what people can search and view on the internet. However, this kind of censorship is much less intense than the censorship in China, where anything the government deems “inappropriate” is censored without explanation of reason.
In the Xeni Jardin’s article “Exporting Censorship,” Jardin calls it ‘laughable’ that despite the nation’s goal to support and sale free information services that American companies still sell censor-ware and censored search engines. The article “Beating back the internet censor” discusses that the sale of censor-ware shows anti-Chinese sentiment. Politicians wanted to pass the ‘Global internet freedom act,’ which would discourage censor-ware and censored hardware, however, it did not pass due to the fear of private companies completely removing their survices from China and hurting trade relations with China. America imports a large bulk of resources from China so hurting trade relations with them would be unwise.
Considering all these factors, there is no clear answer to the situation. Due to the importance of Chinese imports, the US should continue to allow private companies to sell censor-ware and censored software, at least until the opportunity arise to coerce China into changing their internet polices.
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.
This is an interesting concept to say the least, considering that the Chinese government is communist; one must also take into account the government leaders in China are very well aware of the discontent caused among the people due to the internet censorship and despite this they continue to run the way the always have. Can criticism on the internet truly make a difference?
Since China has a communist government, the Chinese people do not share in the same rights as Americans do with democracy; free speech being a very specific example of this seeing as the Chinese government covers up every piece of media that they believe may ‘endanger’ their government. The Chinese government has shown that they can be very close minded towards the opinions of other countries as well.
Not all hope is lost, many times in the past; probably the best examples being things like the American Revolution or the French Revolution; it has been shown that with enough influence that the opinions and even the structure of the government can be altered. The Chinese public using online blogs to voice their opinions and criticisms of the government shows initiative, and plain fact that they able to shows that the “great fire wall of China” isn’t so great after all. As Chinese people find more and more ways to voice their opinions, it becomes clear that the Chinese government cannot simply control it’s people like would like to. Instead, their voices will be heard and it is quite possible that china will begin listening to its people.
In Michael Bistro’s article “Can microblog’s change China’s rulers?” We can already see a shift in the government’s approach to its people. Despite the limited free speech, microblogs have hurt the Chinese government’s ability to censor and control its people and is now forcing officials in the government to change their methods.
In the Publication of China law publication “Voices against Discrimination: Chinese Citizens Challenge Discriminatory Regulations and Practices” It develops the increasing effects of Chinese blogging and criticisms against the government. More and more, public voices are beginning to be held against the Chinese government concerning discrimination and cover-ups. As the Chinese people become increasingly aware of their human rights, the government begins to fall under the pressure and is obligated to change their methods. It is very clear that from these results that, microblogging is helping to increase the rights of the Chinese people.
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