Cisco Poised to Help China Keep an Eye on Its Citizens | Hacker News Reader

Cisco Poised to Help China Keep an Eye on Its Citizens

online.wsj.com

36 pointsbproper15 comments

"The project sheds light on how Western tech companies sell their wares in China, the Middle East and other places where there is potential for the gear to be used for political purposes and not just safety."

Because, of course, Western governments never use this kind of gear for political purposes and not just safety.

This is a tricky and complicated subject. Under what conditions should a corporation like Cisco be responsible for censoring or imposing its values, whatever they are, upon clients? For instance, should it be expected to regulate purchases to organizations that support the KKK? That oppose abortion? That support immigration? That support flag burning? That support cap-and-trade? That oppose the estate tax? Certainly some of these are heinous and orthogonal to American values and some are not. The question is: when should a corporate citizen not be neutral?

> Should companies be held accountable if foreign governments use their products for political suppression?

How could a company be responsible for something like a computer, which is capable of doing an infinite number of things? If America feels that strongly about the human rights violations going on in China, I feel that the only way to prevent American made technology from being used in that fashion is to prevent the sale of all technology to China. I'm not saying this is the right thing to do, but it doesn't seem possible to expect technology companies to police how their tech is used in foreign countries.

How could a company be responsible for something like a computer, which is capable of doing an infinite number of things?

I don't think that anyone is saying that Cisco would be responsible. But that's no reason to make things easier for the despots. If they're working with Cisco, it's either because Cisco can do it better or cheaper. Wouldn't someone with a conscience desire to make it either less effective for China, or make them pay more dearly, for such a system?

If America feels that strongly... prevent the sale of all technology to China

How does "America" feel anything? We're a nation of individuals, we do not all feel in unison, or even in agreement. That is why, when somebody feels something, they need to take whatever action they can themselves -- and that includes the Cisco management, board, and stockholders. Conversely, because the government cannot speak for the morals and values of any particular American, regulations like you suggest will always be purely political efforts, easily co-opted by special interests.

> How does "America" feel anything?

I should have said the American Government.

"How could a company be responsible for something like a computer, which is capable of doing an infinite number of things?"

There's a big difference between selling a computer, which could potentially do an infinite number of things, and a vast security system expressly designed for surveillance on the population, the suppression of dissent, and the curtailing of human rights.

Right, but I don't think anyone claimed that Cisco sold a system designed for surveillance or suppression. The claims seem to be that Cisco sold networking or other common hardware that will probably be used for such purposes, or in a system (created by the Chinese government) designed for such purposes.

Given that China seems to be turning itself into Singapore, one wonders why News Corp. is troubled. An authoritarian business-oriented state ought to be something it could adapt to nicely.

If they want to help build one here in the U.S., it may help for the sake of rhetoric to make a scapegoat out of the one they have over there. It's just a PR sleight-of-hand.

The title is white-lie misleading. Cisco has been doing this sort of thing for China for as long as I can remember.

Performance and scalability optimizations in a similar project:)

"Police have learned that CCTV cameras all across Moscow streamed prerecorded pictures, ... There are more than 80,000 security cameras in public places in Moscow."

http://rt.com/news/sci-tech/cctv-cameras-fraud-moscow/

Original article behind a paywall.

Here is the copy: http://pastebin.com/9DfwQfdc

You can also jump WSJ paywall with a quick copy paste of article title into Google search.

I am sure Cisco has helped many countries build its police state.

This gives new meaning to their motto: "Cisco: The Human Network".

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