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The human rights organisation said that the latest in a series of examples of global Internet companies caving in to pressure from the Chinese government has effectively legitimised censorship in the world's most populous country.

'Whether succumbing to demands from Chinese officials or anticipating government concerns, companies that impose restrictions that infringe on human rights are being extremely short-sighted,' said Amnesty's secretary general Irene Khan.

'Agreements between global corporations and the Chinese authorities have entrenched Internet censorship as the norm in China,'

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she added. 'Internet companies justify their actions on the basis of Chinese regulations. In fact, such agreements and the resulting self-censorship, violate both international standards and China's own constitution, which protects freedom of expression.'

Google joined MSN and Yahoo! in agreeing to censor content that contains prohibited words such as freedom. Yahoo! has also disclosed email content which, it admitted, contributed to the 10-year gaol sentence handed down to journalist Shi Tao. Amnesty is urging companies that do business in China to act together to provide free access to the Net.

'The Internet heralded unfettered access to information in a borderless world,' Khan said. 'Instead, companies are helping governments build borders to prevent their citizens from accessing information.'

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has defended the company's acquiescence during a discussion at the World Economic Forum, taking the lesser of two evils approach.

'We concluded that although we weren't wild about the restrictions, it was even worse to not try to serve those users at all,' he said. 'We actually did an evil scale and decided not to serve at all was worse evil.'