Yesterday The Epoch Times posted an article about some of the activities of Zoom, one computer application that has seen a significant increase in usage because of the coronavirus lockdowns.
The article reports:
A Zoom executive worked with Chinese authorities to provide data on users located outside of China and ensure the U.S. video-call giant retained market access in the country, according to recently unsealed court documents filed by U.S. federal prosecutors.
The documents detailed internal communications between Zoom employees, which showed that Chinese security authorities made numerous requests to the company for data on users and meetings that discussed political and religious topics Beijing deemed unacceptable. Zoom complied with most of these requests, at times involving users outside of China.
The revelations highlight how users outside of China’s shores are increasingly being caught in the crosshairs as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) steps up its demands on companies like Zoom to surveil and censor users both at home and abroad. Zoom is a San Jose-based company, whose software is developed in China.
The claims arose in a prosecution announced on Dec. 18 against Jin Xinjiang, also known as Julien, a China-based Zoom executive. Jin was charged over his role in disrupting a series of meetings this year commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre—an event deemed taboo by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The article concludes:
In another example highlighting challenges facing American companies operating in China, the former chief trust officer of Airbnb abruptly resigned last year over concerns about how much data the rental platform was sharing with China, Wall Street Journal recently reported.
Sean Joyce, a former deputy director with the FBI hired by the company in May 2019, became alarmed that the company was not transparent about how much data Airbrb shared with the CCP, including Americans traveling to China. In a conversation with the company’s top leaders outlining his concerns, co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk told Joyce that “we’re not here to promote American values,” the outlet reported.
William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, at a panel discussion earlier this month, said that Americans should be more aware of this issue.
“When we sign up for these companies … these apps, are we okay with our data going over to a communist country for utilization by the intelligence services?” Evanina said.
Unfortunately a number of the people slated to be part of a Biden cabinet have extensive business dealings with China. They will be in the same position many American companies are in–do I cooperate with the CCP for financial reasons or do I protect America? We saw what happened when a team manager in the NBA spoke out in favor of the freedom movement in Taiwan (article here). Because the NBA has a very large audience in China, he was forced to apologize. The NBA chose money over freedom. How many other American companies have done or are doing the same thing?
