State Dept. to push for online free speech

The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had set up a task force to help U.S. technology companies protect freedom of expression in countries such as China that censor online content.

State Department officials said they will push to encourage foreign countries to allow greater freedom of expression online and help U.S. businesses figure out what to do when called on to enforce repressive laws in countries where they operate.

“Many technology companies ... want to work to help those who lack the freedom that we often take for granted,” said Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, a member of the task force. “If we band together, we can make significant progress on this issue.”

Several U.S. tech companies that operate in China have faced criticism in recent months for helping China enforce censorship laws and track down government critics who communicate online.

Microsoft Corp. pulled the Web log, or blog, of a critic of the Chinese government after getting a government order to do so, and Yahoo Inc. has been criticized for helping Chinese authorities link journalist Shi Tao to a U.S.-based Web site, leading to a 10-year prison sentence for Shi. (MSNBC.com is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)

Google Inc.’s Chinese search engine blocks many terms associated with topics related to democracy or independence for Tibet and Taiwan.

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco Systems Inc. are scheduled to address the issue at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Google and Yahoo applauded the task force.

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“This embraces the government-to-government approach that we’ve been urging,” Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako said.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined immediate comment but noted Microsoft and Yahoo earlier this month called on Washington to discuss censorship issues with the Chinese government.

An online civil-liberties advocate said the United States can exert much more influence on foreign governments than individual companies can on their own.

“If the government is going to figure out how to use its powers to help these companies, then that’s probably a good thing,” said Leslie Harris, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.

Harris said that the United States will need to push back to ensure that China’s censored version of the Internet does not become a global standard.