Not only should internet freedom in China be protected by governments as well as multinationals like Microsoft, but “Freedom of expression and access to information are cornerstones of any developed nation and economy,” Brigden said. “It is ultimately in China’s own national interest therefore to bring internet censorship to an end.”
The decision by the Mountain View-based giant to fight Communist censorship comes at the right time.
Chinese leaders have politicised the internet by adopting highly restrictive measures to control their own people. In Tibet, they have used the legal system in a disproportionate manner to punish alleged breaches of the law, showing an ever-increasing degree of cruelty towards Tibetans who use the internet to inform the rest of the world about what is happening in their homeland.
For example, in November 2008, a Tibetan health care worker named Wangdu was handed a life sentence for sending an e-mail to a contact outside Tibet describing the violent Chinese crackdown of the spring of 2008. The same year, a Tibetan woman, Norzin Wangmo, was given five years in prison for using internet to send information about human rights violations in Tibet. In 2009, Gonpo Tsering, 32, met a similar fate getting three years in prison.