US Internet giant Yahoo is "complicit" in rights abuses by the Chinese government after agreeing to a Beijing-backed self-censorship pledge for Web pages, a human rights group charged yesterday.
Yahoo, which markets itself as a bastion on free information, would be helping China clamp down on free expression if it abided by a pact for Chinese Internet companies signed by the company, Human Rights Watch said.
"If it implements the pledge, Yahoo will become an agent of Chinese law enforcement," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based group in a letter to Yahoo.
"It will switch from being an information gateway to an information gatekeeper."
The "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the China Internet Industry" compels signatories not to post information that will "jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability" among other restrictions.
A list of signatories provided last month by the Internet Society of China, a self-regulatory body for Chinese-based Web companies, said Yahoo was one of the 120 or so companies that have agreed to the terms.
Signatories should also remove links to sites that contain "harmful" information, "so as to ensure that the content of the network information is lawful and healthy," according to the rules.
Firms should also endeavor to carry forward "the rich cultural tradition of the Chinese nation and the ethical norms of the socialist cultural civilization."
Yahoo has refused to reply to media questions about the pledge, and Human Rights Watch said yesterday it had also received no response to either Roth's letter or requests for meetings.
"Some Internet companies argue that they advance the cause of free expression simply by their presence in China," Roth said in the letter.
"But if a powerful industry leader such as Yahoo submits so readily to official censorship requests, it sells short the potential of this new medium to break Beijing's grasp on the free flow of information."
The group warned that Yahoo's image "as an irreverent and open forum for free exchange" was at odds with its willingness to sign up to the pledge.
"As a standard bearer in an industry that depends on the free flow of ideas, it is not in Yahoo's interest to develop a split personality: innovative and open in the West, but tolerant of unlawful intrusions on expression in the East," Roth warned.
China routinely blocks large numbers of Web sites, especially foreign news sites and pages containing information about dissident groups or organizations such as the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
However, Beijing is increasingly aware that it's increasingly switched-on population, while good for economic growth, is learning to circumvent firewalls more easily.
Authorities are thus increasingly looking to self-censorship to police the country's near-34 million Web surfers.
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