Google, Yahoo helping censors: Activists

A leading human rights group wants the US and Europe to introduce new laws to prevent Yahoo, Google and other Western companies from helping China censor the Internet. Human Rights Watch said major internet companies are involved in stifling free speech in China by helping the country's "Great Firewall" be more effective, and labelled China's system of Internet censorship and surveillance as "the most advanced in the world". The group wants legislators in the US and China to pass laws banning the companies from storing personal data in China-based servers. Last month, 14 human rights groups urged the US Congress to pass legislation that would punish US technology companies that cooperate with China in online censorship.