Posted on 02/11/2006 11:37:39 PM PST by familyop
A leading Chinese critic of the Communist party and an international press freedom group have denounced US portal Yahoo for allegedly assisting Beijing authorities to track down and prosecute a dissident three years ago.
Political critic Liu Xiaobo and Reporters Without Borders said the case of jailed dissident Li Zhi showed that Yahoo had helped China suppress dissent even before its widely publicised role in the prosecution of an outspoken journalist last year.
The allegations, which are based on copies of a defence statement by Li’s lawyers that has been posted on reformist websites overseas, will fuel already fierce debate about the activities of international internet companies in China.
“This shows that as early as 2003, Yahoo was already cooperating closely with the Chinese Communist police,” Liu wrote in an essay condemning the US portal’s conduct.
A committee of the US Congress is to hold a hearing on the ethical responsibilities of companies doing business in China and is expected to grill Yahoo, Google and Microsoft over their cooperation with Beijing authorities and internet censors.
Google has drawn criticism from users for actively censoring its China-based search service to avoid upsetting Beijing. Microsoft already bars discussion of sensitive topics - and even the use of words such as freedom and democracy - from parts of its MSN site in China.
Yahoo has drawn particularly heavy fire for its role in helping authorities track down Shi Tao, an outspoken journalist and user of its email service who was jailed for 10 years last April for revealing information about a Communist party media crackdown.
Yahoo has said it assisted the action against Mr Shi, as part of a “legal process”. However, the portal has not explained the legality of its apparent decision to provide information to Chinese authorities from its Hong Kong operations, which are not subject to mainland law.
Similar questions are likely to surround Yahoo’s conduct in the case against Li, who was jailed for eight years in 2003 for trying to join the banned China Democracy Party and for publishing internet essays criticising official corruption.
According to the defence statement published on reformist websites, information used in Li’s prosecution was provided by Yahoo Hong Kong. Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo should make public how many Chinese dissidents it had given police information about.
“The firm says it simply responds to requests from the authorities for data without ever knowing what it will be used for. But this argument no longer holds water,” the group said. “Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest political dissidents and journalists, not just ordinary criminals,” it said.
Chinese dissidents say internet companies’ willingness to provide information to the authorities makes it much harder to safely email or post online politically sensitive opinions. Yahoo last year transferred control of its Chinese operations to a local company that has made clear it intends to work closely with judicial authorities whenever asked.
Both Yahoo and Google are showing that their main concern is the money they stand to make in the Chinese market.
The human rights of the Chinese people be damned.
Methinks we need to get them to define "Evil"
In politics and business, the dollar wins out. Look at Yao Ming, famous center for the Rockets. China taxes his incredible earnings at a huge rate and refuses to allow him to become a US citizen (assuming he wants to). A similar situation happened with former Maverick Wang Zhu Zhu. He came up missing when he came to the US to play ball. Speculation was he wanted to defect and Mark Cuban was gonna help him. The NBA wouldn't allow it and it all seemed to just go away. Whether he was defecting or not the NBA stance was clear, if you come from China you are the Chinese govt's property. The NBA needs those jersey to keep selling in China and for the Chinese gov't to continue sending qualified players.
Does our failure to enforce our laws make it any less of a crime?
Didn't Google and Yahoo stock recently take a dive?
If I knowingly had any stock in 'em I'd be divesting, methinks - and if enough stockholders did likewise, they might get the message.
Or China could buy them up, and they could be "property of the State" too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.