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Article

11 Mar 2012

Author:
James Temple, San Francisco Chronicle [USA]

Cisco's role in Falun Gong crackdown in dispute [China]

A human rights group [Human Rights Law Foundation] that brought suit against Cisco Systems last year accusing it of abetting the torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China says it has additional evidence the…[company] customized its products to help the government monitor members of the spiritual movement. Leaked Cisco marketing materials...suggest the…company knew the Chinese government wanted to use its Golden Shield censorship system, for which the company was pitching its products, to persecute Falun Gong practitioners…The legal question is whether Cisco or its executives can be held liable for how its products were used, if they were aware of the Chinese government's intentions and made specific customizations...Cisco vehemently denies the charges. "There is no basis for these allegations against Cisco…"Cisco does not operate networks in China or elsewhere, nor does Cisco customize our products in any way that would facilitate censorship or repression."…Cisco spokesman John Earnhardt stressed...that the company sells the same technology in China as...elsewhere.

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