Cisco sued by Chinese prisoners

<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>Cisco is being sued by a number of Chinese political prisoners for helping the Chinese state create its Golden Shield and PoliceNet systems, giving them the means to monitor and censor the information being accessed by its citizens.

According to The Age, the US law firm Ward and Ward has brought the case on behalf of a number of dissidents, including Du Daobin, Zhou Yuanshi and Liu Xianbin.

The prosecution lawyer, Daniel Ward, has apparently compared Cisco’s support of the Chinese Government to IBM’s behaviour in Nazi Germany (IBM created and sold the punchcard machines that allegedly allowed the Nazi regime to identify and catalogue the Jewish population).

“Cisco has, for years now, knowingly aided and abetted the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing efforts to stifle the free speech and discourse of its citizenry,” said Ward.

“They aren’t just selling routers to a corrupt regime. They are selling the technology, training and software specifically designed to monitor, censor and suppress the Chinese people. And they are doing so knowing full well how the CCP treats dissenters.”