[IP] Cisco, China and Freedom
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jim Thompson <jim@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 24, 2005 4:51:10 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: rmackinnon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Cisco, China and Freedom
Dave,
Rebecca MacKinnon <rmackinnon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, who was bureau
chief and correspondent for CNN in China and Japan until
the end of 2003, has a blog where she and others are leveling
accusations at Cisco about it support of the police state in China
and elsewhere.
http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/07/
my_conversation.html
A suggested pull quote:
Cisco argues that if they don't do this business, their competitors
will. And that will be bad for U.S. jobs. Well, as I've said
before, at the end of the day either we believe that the ideals of
"freedom" and "democracy" mean something, and are worth sacrificing
short-term profit so that more people around the world have a chance
of benefiting from them, or we don't. Cisco clearly doesn't. This is
an insult to the thousands of Americans - public servants, men and
women in uniform, journalists and others - who risk their lives daily
in far-flung corners of the globe for the sake of these ideals. Such
business behavior cheapens and sullies these sacrifices, making
Americans look like total hypocrites in the eyes of people around the
world.
--
With the recent on-list discussions about "random" searches in NYC
and elsewhere, its important to remember that, if what Cisco is saying
is the truth, we are a mere flick of a software switch away from
enabling "a police state" in the US (if it exists yet or not) from
peering into our online lives. Ms. MacKinnon is undoubtedly
correct that Cisco's actions and attitude sullies the reputation of
all U.S. citizens, world-wide.
Cisco, by their actions and attitude are a threat to freedom and
democracy everywhere.
For IP, if you wish,
jim
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