Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin published his letter to Baidu. The senator was among the 17 members of the US legislature who returned from a week-long trip to China. Baidu is one of the major Chinese search engine companies, which he claims filters search results. Baidu is reportedly to have a partnership with Facebook. The senator expressed his concerns about the information Baidu might possess when it does. He asked the company what it plans to do for protection of the activists there in China who uses such services.
The censorship in China is notorious. The access to such sites as Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter are prohibited. The senator states that he himself while he was in China could not send his messages via Twitter since its homepage was not accessible. Freedom, is at stake here. Keywords such as Tienanmen square are rejected from the search engines.
The filtering of information by prohibiting access to services and pages that contains sensitive information undermines the intelligence of people in China. Healthy, sound and "well-thought-of" ideas come from and picked up by the people in China not via filtered sites but from judging all the sites and information available online. It will hinder the development of people's knowledge and further isolate people from the rest of the world. Simply put, filtered sites will put the Chinese people "did you not know?" state of mind that will not forge trusts especially among the intellectuals. Those will be prone to influences from outside when they get to know what are out there in the world.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government issued warning to Baidu and other companies to remove illegal music files from its sites. There is no protection to those files on Baidu's pages from downloading and playing those music files. While prohibiting people from accessing potentially beneficial sites to the society and letting those sites alone will not nurture a healthy business environment. Those who are used to free music or movie downloading will have a hard time adjusting themselves not to be able to get them for free even when made-in-China music or films are available online. The intellectual property is an asset that can be sold and should be offered at a fair price.
The censorship in China is notorious. The access to such sites as Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter are prohibited. The senator states that he himself while he was in China could not send his messages via Twitter since its homepage was not accessible. Freedom, is at stake here. Keywords such as Tienanmen square are rejected from the search engines.
Please describe your company’s policies and practices for advancing and protecting human rights and minimizing the risk that your products and/or services will facilitate human rights abuses.
What are your company’s future plans for protecting human rights, including freedom of expression and privacy, in China? Please describe any specific measures you will take to ensure that your products and/or services do not facilitate human rights abuses by the Chinese government, including censoring the internet and monitoring political and religious dissidents.
The filtering of information by prohibiting access to services and pages that contains sensitive information undermines the intelligence of people in China. Healthy, sound and "well-thought-of" ideas come from and picked up by the people in China not via filtered sites but from judging all the sites and information available online. It will hinder the development of people's knowledge and further isolate people from the rest of the world. Simply put, filtered sites will put the Chinese people "did you not know?" state of mind that will not forge trusts especially among the intellectuals. Those will be prone to influences from outside when they get to know what are out there in the world.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government issued warning to Baidu and other companies to remove illegal music files from its sites. There is no protection to those files on Baidu's pages from downloading and playing those music files. While prohibiting people from accessing potentially beneficial sites to the society and letting those sites alone will not nurture a healthy business environment. Those who are used to free music or movie downloading will have a hard time adjusting themselves not to be able to get them for free even when made-in-China music or films are available online. The intellectual property is an asset that can be sold and should be offered at a fair price.