Falungong members are suing Cisco Systems for custom-building “Golden Shield” internet technology used by China to track down devotees of the spiritual movement. Cisco dismissed the case on Monday as being without basis and vowed to “vigorously defend” itself. A lawsuit filed in US federal court in the northern California city [...]

Public revolt in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere makes it clear that many yearn for rights and liberties. But states are not the only institutions obligated to respect human rights. Companies also have human rights responsibilities and can be complicit in violating human rights. For example, during the first days of [...]

Silicon Valley high tech firms are on the hot seat over accusations that they’re not hiring enough minorities. Three non-profit groups targeted Google for a protest because it wouldn’t provide a breakdown of its workforce by race or ethnicity. “The only way we can solve the problem is finding out what [...]

Activist investor Boston Common Asset Management LLC said that it has sold most of the 167,000 shares it held in Cisco Systems Inc, capping a lengthy dispute with the company over its human rights record. Cisco is among a number of technology companies that have tangled with human rights groups in recent years over sales [...]

Innovative green and social products greatly contribute to the ethical reputation of technology hardware companies, while labour, legal, institutional and production-related challenges are rising, states a report published today by Geneva-based research firm Covalence – Covalence Technology Hardware Industry Report 2008. In Covalence cross-sectors EthicalQuote ranking Technology Hardware recently lost the 1st rank against Automobiles [...]

Harington Investments, with the support of Boston Common Asset Management, has proffered a shareholder resolution that requests Cisco “amend the company’s bylaws to establish a board committee on human rights that is authorized to review the implications of company policies, above and beyond matters of legal compliance, for the human rights of individuals in the [...]

A Senate subcommittee on Tuesday is expected to question a Cisco Systems Inc. executive about an internal 2002 document that includes a reference to censoring “hostiles” in describing the Chinese government’s technology position and goals. Representatives from Cisco, Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary’s human rights subcommittee, which [...]

Police detained 19 people Tuesday for allegedly taking part in a scheme to help large Brazilian companies evade taxes by laundering money through Swiss banks UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group and the U.S.-based American International Group Inc. The raids at 44 sites in four states were part of a clampdown by Brazilian authorities on [...]

Cisco Systems Sunday said three of four employees detained by Brazilian authorities last week in connection with an alleged tax evasion scheme have been released. The release of the Cisco employees comes a few days after the San Jose, Calif.-based networking company maintained its innocence, seemingly pointing a finger at the channel for whatever wrongdoing, [...]

Cisco Systems and the City of San Francisco are looking to technology to battle climate change. San Francisco is one of three cities initially selected by the San Jose-based networking giant to take part in its Connected Urban Development Initiative. Cisco is deploying expertise, equipment and research to Seoul, Amsterdam and San Francisco for [...]