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Representative Tom Lantos accuses Yahoo! of lying to Congress about the Internet giant’s role in the arrest and imprisonment of Chinese journalist Shi Tao.
We spoke with Tala Dowlatshahi, the New York director of Reporters Without Borders about the position of United State’s Internet companies in China. A clip from the interview is posted below.
Dowlatshahi says that overseas the companies are vulnerable to pressure from host governments, a particular problem when authoritarian regimes put the suppression of dissent above individual rights and make unethical conduct part of the price of doing business. Absent statutory protection, firms that chose to act on principle can face losing out to less scrupulous competitors
There is precedent for such protection in the foreign corrupt practices act. It bars business from engaging in tainted activities when dealing with foreign companies. A similar law could be drafted for information technology companies to require their protection of individual rights abroad. Such a statute could be a tool to promote democracy around the globe.
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