There are many stories in the news this week
about how US technology is used by repressive regimes to censor internet
content, possibly in violation of trade sanctions and embargoes. Given the role
of the internet in the recent Arab Spring uprisings, it is little wonder why
repressive regimes seek to stifle online education and communication that they
see as threatening.
Is it
appropriate for American businesses to claim that technology is morally neutral, and therefore absolve themselves of
responsibility for its use?
No. American software companies should take
strong measures to prevent the misuse of their technologies where it would be
harmful to the public good. And it’s long overdue for American technology
companies to step forward and address this problem.
Websense
is a world leader in protecting corporate data, and has for years also been the
world leader in web filtering, a type of software that allows organizations to
choose what web content is permissible for their employees to access in the
workplace. Websense does not support the
use of our software for the purposes of government censorship and Websense
does not sell to governments for the purposes of censorship.
To illustrate, several years ago a
Yemeni internet service provider purchased Websense filtering software from a
third party and pirated it to censor Yemeni citizens. When Websense learned of
the pirated software being used for censorship, we disabled it, preventing the
Yemeni ISP from continuing to misuse and abuse Websense software. This business
would have been 100% legal for Websense to pursue; yet we took the moral and
ethical stand to cede that business to the competition. And just last month,
we detected—and blocked—two attempts to use our software using cloaked
addresses in Europe that were actually fronts for entities in Syria, a country
subject to trade sanctions by the United States. This is not rocket science,
but it does take some moral fiber, smart people, commitment, and
follow-through.
Websense has
been highly transparent in our position on censorship and the full text of our
anti-censorship policy is publicly available to all of our customers and
competitors on our website. But instead
of being a lone voice for this cause, we are issuing a call to action to the
industry and stakeholders. We challenge all
other American technology vendors to join us in prohibiting repressive regimes
from using American technology to prevent open communications. As a U.S.
organization, based in a country founded on the right of free speech, we
believe that other companies should adopt ethical policies and technical
measures that prevent their software and products from being used to restrict
the communications freedoms that the internet affords every global citizen.
Technology can be both empowering and
repressive. Families and communities grow, prosper, and share information
online. Yet, repressive regimes suppress these voices by blocking access to
content they perceive as unsettling or threatening.
If you are a shareholder of a U.S. technology
company, write to your leaders. If you are a citizen concerned with this issue,
reach out to the companies that make these types of software and ask that they
adopt a non-censorship policy similar to Websense. Reach out to organizations
like the Open Net Initiative and the Electronic Frontier Foundation to ensure
that they get the story right and understand how you can support ongoing, free
discourse throughout the globe.
If you are an executive at a security company
that makes software that can be used to censor internet activity in repressive
regimes, we ask that you support the right course of action and stop selling
repressive tools to oppressive regimes.
English (US)