The accusation, made at the first Global Internet Governance forum, claimed that sales by major U.S. companies to China has bolstered Beijing’s capabilities to limit Internet access inside its borders.
“The governments of democratic countries should regulate the activities of Internet companies to prevent this kind of abuse,” Julien Pain of Reporters Without Borders told the forum in Athens.
The largest U.S. network equipment maker, Cisco Systems Inc., and several other U.S. technology companies, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, have been criticized by U.S. lawmakers for their alleged complicity in allowing the Chinese government to commit human rights abuses. Cisco has sold China technology that it uses to control Internet traffic through independent resellers of its products.
“There should be a ban on the sale of communication surveillance equipment to repressive countries,” Pan said.
China, the world’s second largest Internet market, employs an estimated 30,000 people to cull websites for subversive material. The government has imprisoned 50 Internet freedom campaigners, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Since China will host the 2008 Olympics, its government has been under increasing pressure to soften its grip on the Internet. The latest controversy erupted during the four-day meeting aimed at discussing the future of the Internet, hosted by Greece.