A number of Falun Gong spiritual followers have filed a lawsuit against Cisco while accusing them of helping the Chinese government track down, identify, and persecute their members. Cisco allegedly built specialized computer software that tracked their online activities.

Cisco responded to the lawsuit by denying the allegations and said they only sold China standard networking equipment. Furthermore, the company insisted that they did not provide the foreign government any special or customized technology.

The lawsuit was filed a week ago in San Francisco by the Human Rights Law Foundation based in Washington. The foundation worked hand-in-hand with several lawyers who represent the Falun Gong members who either live in China or in the US.

Cisco is the number one seller of computer networking devices all over the world. They also sell a variety of equipment in China.

The lawsuit filed against the company says that Cisco knowingly helped China design and operate a surveillance and censorship network called the “Golden Shield”. The Golden Shield is a system that Chinese security officials to track down and identify members of all banned groups in China, Faun Gong included. The captured members are allegedly subjected to human rights abuse such as torture and extrajudicial killing.

Cisco is firm in denying any linkage to the Chinese government. They said that the company builds tools which allow free exchange of information following global standards. In addition, they said that they sell in China the exact same merchandise they do here in the United States and all other countries.

Obama’s administration is investigating methods to improve tax incentives for corporate investments in the United States, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner informed on Wednesday before his meeting with chief financial officers from some of the biggest companies in America.

Geithner said in comments after his speech at John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies that they are examining whether they can get political support for a big tax change. This change is revenue neutral but would improve incentives for investing in the United States.

He is expected to gather with CFOs of major companies in the U.S that includes Microsoft Corp and Cisco Systems on Friday to discuss ideas for simplifying, as well as trimming the corporate tax that is almost the highest tax in the world of industry.

Corporate tax reform, according to administration officials, is the foundation for a discussion about comprehensive tax. But, it would be difficult to pass any meaningful reform for the next two years if the Congress is divided.

Several White House officials have said that they concur with the companies’ main complaint that the federal corporate tax rate at 35 percent is way too high. Both parties have also agreed that the tax code is too heavy and troublesome.

However, administration officials and other people noted that deductions, as well as loopholes make it uncommon for companies to pay the 35 percent rate.

Dorothy Coleman, the vice-president of tax and economic policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, told that cutting the corporate tax rate is a big issue for the group’s members, many of whom will attend the Friday meeting.

Coleman said that they are looking at the issue as a start of a debate and a sign that the administration is serious.