Gates"s firm supplied technology used to trap Chinese dissidents, says Amnesty
Technology sold by Microsoft to the Chinese government has been used by Beijing to censor the internet, and resulted in the jailing of its political opponents.
An Amnesty International report has cited Microsoft among a clutch of leading computer firms heavily criticised for helping to fuel "a dramatic rise in the number of people detained or sentenced for internet-related offences".
The human rights group has slated Bill Gates"s company for an "inadequate response" to escalating abuses in China. "We don"t believe this is appropriate or responsible," said Mark Allison, an Amnesty International researcher who wrote the report. "[Microsoft] should be more concerned about human rights abuses and should be using its influence to lift restrictions on freedom of expression and get people out of prison. It is worrying that they don"t seem to have raised these issues."