NYT Editorial Slams ISPs Over Online Freedom

Erris writes "The New York Times site is running an opinion piece from last weekend which lambasts Yahoo! (and other US ISPs) for cooperating with China and other repressive governments. 'Yahoo's collaboration is appalling, and Yahoo is not the only American company helping the Chinese government repress its people ... Last January, Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey reintroduced the Global Online Freedom Act in the House. It would fine American companies that hand over information about their customers to foreign governments that suppress online dissent.'"

When did Yahoo become an ISP??

[Richard Steiner]

Or Google?? Or Microsoft??

An ISP provides access to the net, not just web services.

Re:You've just identified the problem

[conlaw]

The real problem is that probably none of these "US companies" are doing business in or with China. AFIK, Yahoo and Google are working under separate Chinese corporations and the US cannot reach the Chinese subsidiaries of US corporations without "piercing the corporate veil." This would be equivalent to holding every Yahoo shareholder liable for anything that the US company does in the US. The entire body of the law of corporations depends on the rule that a shareholder is not responsible for the actions of the corporation and this includes US corporations who are shareholders of foreign corporations.

Re:No kidding?

[GoMMiX]

My question is - what the hell do we have TRADE AGREEMENTS with China for. They want to make it illegal for companies to produce this information to these governments, but this government itself is catering heavily to countries with low wage labor, like China. Pass that law, and let's throw some politicians in jail for treason while we are at it.

You remember that whole toothpaste fiasco from China? They EXECUTED the official responsible for letting that slip by. Not fined, jailed, or sentenced to community service for not 'catching' pad product being exported - they ended his life. You know how much press that got in the US? Dick. Why? Because people and politicians don't WANT to recognize what we are supporting by doing business over there (not to mention the MILLIONS of factory jobs we've shipped off - GFG - wonder who THAT makes rich, aye?)

The irony of it all is, even the people of the countries we setup these trade agreements with don't want them. Wonder why.....

Re:You've just identified the problem

[wytcld]

Where else but China can we get lead toys for our kids [go.com]? How else can we outsource pollution [mercurynews.com] to a nation which believes it's its right to release carbon to make stuff for us [google.com]? And what better than having all that junk shipped to us by fume-belching ships [pasadenastarnews.com]?

Seriously, ending trade with China would most likely do more to cut particulate pollution (25% of LA's comes from China [the-signal.com]), and cut global warming from coal burning [atimes.com]. Sure, there'd be short-term disruption of American corporate manufacturing patterns. But what we've learned in the process of outsourcing industries to China is how to build new factories quickly. We could use that knowledge again here.

Re:No kidding?

[mabhatter654]

then the issue becomes will the US govt protect US citizen employees in other countries? Is the Congress willing to hire out the army out to ANY company following US law or just their favorites? That was the Yahoo issue. The Chinese govt had threatened Yahoo's Chinese employees with prison if Yahoo USA didn't cough up the info. Look at how the DOJ handled the Pirate Bay or UK citizen kidnapping trouble to see that the USA does EXACTLY the same thing when they want to enforce US laws in OTHER countries.

On another note, what happens when China does decide to kick somebody out and seize their assets..and wipe out all of Microsoft or GM's holdings in their country? see how that worked out for the Queen of Hawaii when businesses wanted her out, or how it worked out for Castro when he did kick US business out, or for Chavez..., except China is too big to threaten into submission like them and they can simply cut us off... or take back Taiwan.

Re:You've just identified the problem

[hackingbear]

Not only that, these Chinese subsidiaries are not really the real one operate in China either. Because China does not allow foreign or joint-venture companies to hold an Internet Content provider (ICP) license; so typically the foreign company and its subsidiaries would own the IPs and the domain name but delegate some trusted Chinese nationals to set up a shell company to hold the ICP and business licenses. There are plenty of lawyers helping you do that.