Cisco avoids claims that systems led to Chinese torture

Cisco Systems Inc. is off the hook in a California federal suit alleging it orchestrated surveillance systems for the Chinese government that were used to torture and persecute members of a religious group, according to a Friday decision.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila ruled Friday that the plaintiffs, practitioners of Falun Gong, insufficiently alleged that Cisco’s Golden Shield network was connected enough to the alleged human rights abuses, or that those abuses touched and concerned the U.S. as directly as called for by the U.S….