The U.S. has been mulling such a WTO case as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has promoted Internet freedom as a basic human right in modern times. In the European Union, Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, has described the Chinese firewall as a trade barrier as long as it served to block communication for Internet users.
"Google believes very strongly, as do other companies, that censorship is a trade barrier," Boorstin said during a discussion hosted by the Media Access Project. He said the company wants to demonstrate that censorship means fewer search pages, and that limits the capacity for a company like Google to go to the Chinese and be on a level playing field with services like Baidu.
"Our goal is to maximize free expression and access to information," he said. "This is a very important piece of business for us."
A WTO case of this nature could take years to be resolved, so U.S. trade officials have suggested that direct talks with Beijing might yield results quicker.
Written by: James Delahunty @ 15 Jun 2010 0:45
