Rights Group Blasts Internet Companies Over China Policies

From TechWeb:

"Human Rights Watch on Thursday called on the United States and the European Union to bar Internet companies from storing personal user data on servers in China, where government officials are tightening their control of political discourse on the Web.

The international activist group said Western nations should pass laws to protect Chinese political activists, because companies like Google, Microsoft MSN, and Yahoo are more focused on a race to please Beijing.

"Laws are needed to end this race to the bottom and establish a level playing field so that the Chinese government can't pick off companies one by one," Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "Otherwise the standard set will be that of the company trying the hardest to please the Chinese government." "