The Congressional hearing on Internet companies in China dominates the news today. For an interesting, realistic take on the debate click here for an op-ed by former TechNet CEO and Congressman Rick White. (Or go to the jump below for excerpts.)
Soviet Leader Vladimir Lenin was once quoted as saying that ``capitalists are so hungry for profits that they will sell us the rope to hang them with.'' He was 180 degrees wrong.
The more communist countries were exposed to capitalism, the more their citizens liked it. One has only to look back at how technology helped influence the downfall of the former Soviet Union and its puppet regimes. When the fax machine made it impossible for the Soviets to control the flow of information from capitalists to their citizens, communism's collapse in Europe accelerated.
What does this tell us about China?
For one thing, it tells us to lighten up a little bit this week as members of Congress castigate U.S. Internet companies for operating in China. True, it's offensive for China to force U.S. companies to help the government censor its own citizens. But no government in history has been able to resist the power of information and technology.
Like the Soviets and like the Catholic Church with Galileo, the Chinese government will find that it can't stop its 1.3 billion citizens from using technology to get the information they want. If, as capitalists, we can keep the courage of our own convictions, we will have the last laugh just as we did with Lenin....
...Instead of disengaging from China, the United States should follow the strategy that worked so well with the Soviet Union. We should use U.S. companies and goods as our own Ho Chi Minh Trail, assuring a steady flow of Western ideas, free information and democratic principles into China.
More than 110 million Chinese use the Internet. No matter how hard the government tries to censor them, it's fighting a losing battle. As Microsoft's Bill Gates recently said, the restrictions are destined to fail because the Chinese people are clever enough to get around them. Already, Western ideas and information are more accessible in China than they have ever been....
...Closing up shop and isolating the nation plays into the hands of Chinese hard-liners. Far better to keep the pipeline open and flowing at the maximum possible level. In many ways, the fax machine helped bring down the Iron Curtain. Similarly, the Internet can and will bring freedom of expression to China.
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