7 posts and columns on Tom Lantos

Does It Matter Why Google Did It? The Real Point Is China's Appalling Internet Behavior.

in News on January 13, 2010 at 5:11 am PT

There are lots of possible reasons Google finally went on the offensive against China yesterday. While much of the speculation so far has been about Google’s motives, real or imagined, it seems to me that the focus should sit squarely on how appalling the Chinese government behaves regarding the Web. And more to the point, how it tries to pass off egregious censorship, vicious retribution of its critics using digital skullduggery and persistent violations of basic freedoms as justified by government policy and laws. That canard is accepted by no one with any kind of conscience and falls flat in today’s increasingly transparent digital-centric world.
LantosTom-Hearing

Good Effort, Moral Pygmies…

in News on October 28, 2008 at 8:09 am PT

Yahoo’s public shaming before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last November apparently had quite an effect on Internet companies cooperating with Chinese government censorship and demands for information on dissidents. Less than a year after that brutal Capitol Hill humiliation, during which Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D., Calif.) lambasted Yahoo’s leadership as moral “pygmies,” Yahoo, along with Microsoft and Google, is introducing a code of conduct that will govern their business practices in repressive countries.

Lessig Bows Out

in News on February 26, 2008 at 12:01 am PT

Stanford University law professor and Silicon Valley copyright-reform guru Larry Lessig bowed out of his consideration of running for Congress for the seat of Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, who died recently. In his post on his blog called “On Why I Am Not Running,” Lessig laid out his reasons, noting that such a run had [...]

Yahoo Shamed Into Settling With Dissidents

in News on November 14, 2007 at 11:00 am PT

Took You Long Enough, Moral Pygmy …

in News on November 13, 2007 at 10:19 am PT

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s public shaming before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week has apparently accomplished what Yahoo’s skewed moral compass could not: prompt the company to provide financial and humanitarian support to the Chinese dissidents it helped imprison. Less than a week after Yang’s grueling Capitol Hill appareance, during which Committee Chairman Tom [...]

Sorry I Forgot Your Birthday, Jerry. I Was in Jail!

in News on November 7, 2007 at 6:44 am PT

If you think our witnesses today are uncomfortable sitting in this climate-controlled room and accounting for their company’s spineless and irresponsible actions, imagine how life is for Shi Tao, spending 10 long years in a Chinese dungeon for exchanging information publicly–exactly what Yahoo claims to support in places like China.” –Statement of Rep. Tom Lantos [...]

Newest Yahoo Mail Feature: BCC Beijing

in News on August 8, 2007 at 7:45 am PT

Sure, Yahoo signed China’s “Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the Chinese Internet Industry,” a voluntary agreement to monitor and restrict information deemed “harmful” by Beijing, but did it have to take it quite so seriously? Was it really necessary to divulge the identity of a Chinese journalist who was subsequently arrested and sent to prison for a decade?