Debate 3-Argument for the Resolution
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The Question
"Resolved: United States technology companies should stay out of regimes that force them to sacrifice the civil liberties of citizens as the cost of doing business in those states."
- Participation in filtering of political speech is wrong.
- Collaborating with oppressive regimes reinforces the status quo.
- Citizens within a regime are more likely to call for change if the U.S. companies are totally absent rather than giving the impression they are available.
- If Google is working in concert with an oppressive regime Google engineers are not attempting to circumvent oppressive controls.
- "Google can build the technology the Chinese need to make Chinaâs regulation more perfectly enabled, and China can extract that talent from Google by mandating it as a condition of being in Chinaâs market." Lawrence Lessig, Code 2.0, pp. 80.
- Participation in content filtering not only supports the practice directly by making it possible, it neutralizes the ability of U.S. companies to be a real force for change in oppressive regimes.