Over at CNET, Declan McCullagh reports:
Nearly every U.S. company with a Web site located in China will have to move it elsewhere or its executives would face prison terms of up to a year, according to proposed legislation expected to be introduced this week in the U.S. Congress.
A draft version of the bill reviewed by CNET News.com represents the first serious attempt to rewrite the ground rules controlling how U.S. Internet companies may interact with foreign governments. If enacted, it would dramatically change the business practices of corporations with operations in China, Iran, Vietnam and other nations deemed to be overly "Internet-restricting."
The highly anticipated proposal, created by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) in response to recent reports about censorship in China by Google, Yahoo and others, also makes it unlawful to filter search results or turn over information about users to certain governments unless the U.S. Justice Department approves. It would also impose new export restrictions to those nations.
"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," Smith said at a related hearing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Smith, chairman of a human rights subcommittee, likened that cooperation to companies that aided the Nazis in World War II.
Previously on Boing Boing:
Harsh words for US tech firms from House at China 'net hearings
Reader comment: Tian says,
that is a BIG mistake. If this law ever gets passed, that means China will have even less exposure to Western ideaology. Less American staff in China, less "grey information".
"Grey information" is a term I use to describe how a foreigner would influence the Chinese. When my father was in college (early 1960's), he was first exposed to the Beatles not from radio stations but his English lecturer by the last name "Fish" from Great Britian.
if there are more American firms station in China, democracy does not have be taught to the Chinese via political studies, but just listen to mix-tapes (or mix Cds, podcasts).
