Yahoo Takes Heat for Human Rights Violations
byWhile many would argue that opening up business relationships in China has lead to greater freedoms, it’s also put businesses in a position to impact human rights issues.
As noted in an earlier blog, a few U.S. companies have been criticized for helping totalitarian governments censor the information and sites that users can access. Now, Yahoo has come under fire from Amnesty International for identifying a Chinese journalist who had disclosed a Communist Party directive instructing the media to downplay the June 4 anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The Internet has brought about a great deal of convergence in our lives — the lines between business, work, politics, family and community have become far less distinct. This is just another case where business and politics are starting to overlap socially and geographically. Addressing those sorts of complications will become more and more important as we move further into the 21st century.
Comments
Well, let me get this one straight: In America, the ACLU and Amnesty and all the other organizations would get their panties tied up in knots if or when our corporations (and worse, when foreign corporations) get involved with politics and politicians. However, when it comes to doing business in another country, God forbid that we should allow foreign governments to tell our American companies how to do business inside of their borders. Hmmm. Sounds like a double standard to me. And it smacks of the old Yankee arrogance that we’re constantly accused of having when it applies to others. If the old axiom of ‘What goes around comes around’ holds true, then this is indeed an opportunity to look at ourselves first before going out to change the world in our own image. If in fact this causes change in China, there will be repurcussions in America as well and we should be open to ALL of the surprises—good AND bad—that come along with it. Food for thought.
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