

Cisco Poised to Help China Keep an Eye on Its Citizens  - bproper
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304778304576377141077267316.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_INTL_LSMODULE

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rlpb
"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.

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panabee
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?

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dfj225
> 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.

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CWuestefeld
_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.

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dfj225
> How does "America" feel anything?

I should have said the American Government.

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cafard
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.

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baguasquirrel
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.

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VladRussian
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/>

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unreal37
Original article behind a paywall.

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

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

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

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

