Monday, May 23, 2011

Lawsuit says Cisco is responsible for human rights violations

Another US tech giant has been sued for its complicity in human rights abuses in China. Falun Gong practitioners have filed a lawsuit against Cisco Systems, Inc. in a federal court in San Jose, seeking to hold the company accountable for its role in human rights abuses resulting from the "Great Firewall of China." The plaintiffs are represented by the Human Rights Law Foundation and the law firm Schwarcz, Rimberg, Boyd, & Rader.

More information is available here: Cisco sued, accused of helping design China's Great Firewall

Human Rights USA filed the first such lawsuit against an Information, Technology & Communications (ICT) company when it represented Shi Tao, Wang Xiaoning, and their families in their lawsuit against Yahoo, Inc.

2 comments:

  1. This is completely stupid. Cisco makes security products. How they are used is NOT Cisco's responsibility. Are weapons manufacturers to be sued next?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The lawsuit alleges that Cisco did more than just sell "off the shelf" products. Besides that, selling law enforcement tools to China is against the law. Companies that illegal sold fingerprint powder to China have been prosecuted for violating export regulations, for example. Why should high technology tools be any different? It will be interesting to see how the courts answer these questions.

    ReplyDelete