China represents a vast market for companies to ply, but its tight control of internet content has some non-profit groups calling for the boycott of the World Internet Conference to be held in the country Dec. 16-18.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and GreatFire have thrown their support behind the boycott with GreatFire Co-founder Charlie Smith saying in a release that by attending, summit-goers, which reportedly will include Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales and LinkedIn Cofounder Reid Hoffman, are “complicit actors in the Chinese censorship regime.”
Smith added that attendees “are deluded” if they believe that going to the summit will “help to free China's Internet.”
Lu Wei, who heads up the Cyberspace Administration of China, was cited by RSF as saying in the lead-up to the conference, that “freedom is our goal and order is our means,” adding that “controlling the Internet is necessary in order to correct rumours.”
