Dark_INk Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 (edited) source: http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/D8CF5FL00.html By ALEXA OLESENAssociated Press Writer BEIJING A French media watchdog said Tuesday that information provided by Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. helped Chinese authorities convict and jail a journalist who had written an e-mail about press restrictions. The harsh criticism from Reporters Without Borders marks the latest instance in which a prominent high-tech company has faced accusations of cooperating with Chinese authorities to gain favor in a country that's expected to become an Internet gold mine. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo and two of its biggest rivals, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, previously have come under attack for censoring online news sites and Web logs, or blogs, that include content that China's communist government wants to suppress. Reporters Without Borders ridiculed Yahoo for becoming even cozier with the Chinese government by becoming a police informant in a case that led to the recent conviction of Chinese journalist Shi Tao. "Does the fact that this corporation operates under Chinese law free it from all ethical considerations?" Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. "How far will it go to please Beijing?" Pauline Wong, head of marketing for the Hong Kong office, said Wednesday that the company had no comment on the statement. "We're still looking at it," Wong said. Reporters Without Borders said court papers showed that Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. gave Chinese investigators information that helped them trace a personal Yahoo e-mail allegedly containing state secrets to Tao's computer. Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. is part of Yahoo's global network. Shi, a former journalist for the financial publication Contemporary Business News, was sentenced in April to 10 years in prison for illegally providing state secrets to foreigners. Reporters Without Borders described Shi as a "good journalist who has paid dearly for trying to get the news out." His conviction stemmed from an e-mail he sent containing his notes on a government circular that spelled out restrictions on the media. "This probably would not have been possible without the cooperation of Yahoo," said Lucie Morillon, a Washington, D.C.-based spokeswoman for Reporters Without Borders. Shi's arrest in November at his home in the northwestern province of Shanxi prompted appeals for his release by activists, including the international writers group PEN. A number of Chinese journalists have faced similar charges of violating vague security laws as communist leaders struggle to maintain control of information in the burgeoning Internet era. Yahoo and its major rivals have been expanding their presence in China in hopes of reaching more of the country's population as the Internet becomes more ingrained in their daily lives. Just last month, Yahoo paid $1 billion for a 40 percent stake in China's biggest online commerce firm, Alibaba.com. Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft are locked in a bitter legal battle over a former Microsoft engineer who Google hired in July to oversee the opening of a research center in China. and 3 bankers executed for fraud... http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=1...gs8k&refer=asia Edited September 7, 2005 by Dark_INk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davemania Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 pathetic ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+M2Ys4U Subscriber¹ Posted September 7, 2005 Subscriber¹ Share Posted September 7, 2005 Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for "divulging state secrets". Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo's Hong Kong arm helped China link Shi Tao's e-mail account and computer to a message containing the information. The media watchdog accused Yahoo of becoming a "police informant" in order to further its business ambitions. A Yahoo spokeswoman, Pauline Wong, said the company had no immediate comment. Shi Tao, 37, worked for the Contemporary Business News in Hunan province, before he was arrested and sentenced in April to 10 years in prison. According to a translation of his conviction, reproduced by Reporters Without Borders, he was found guilty of sending foreign-based websites the text of an internal Communist Party message. Reporters Without Borders said the message warned journalists of the dangers of social unrest resulting from the return of dissidents on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in June 2004. Censorship fears The media organisation accused Yahoo of providing Chinese investigating organs with information that helped link Shi Tao's personal e-mail account and the text of the message to his computer. "We already knew that Yahoo! collaborates enthusiastically with the Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese police informant as well," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. Western internet companies have regularly been criticised for agreeing to China's strict rules governing the internet, which Communist Party leaders fear could be a tool to spread dissent. Microsoft was criticised in June for censoring what bloggers write. The companies say they have to abide by local regulations, and point out that since China is set to be the world's biggest internet market, they cannot ignore it. Earlier this month Yahoo has paid $1bn (?556m) for a stake in China's biggest e-commerce firm, Alibaba.com. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4221538.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mx Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Wow, Yahoo has become communist :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jase Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 is this the end of yahoo as we know it? ..good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookie Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 As a customer of Yahoo i'm dissappointed in them and have sent them an email outlining my annoyance with them. They have no right to co-operate in civil rights abuse and should immediatly make a statement about what they will do in future if something like this occurs again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guru Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 State secret in CHina = My commie govt sucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drshdw Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Isn't that the same in the US? Even with journalist privileges, with a court order, one must spill their contact or face jail time. :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexor Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Isn't that the same in the US? Even with journalist privileges, with a court order, one must spill their contact or face jail time. :whistle: 586490014[/snapback] not exactly, real journalist wouldn't have to spill contacts or anything. You probably thinking of the recent court ruling agains a blogger that spilled Apples unannounced info. But US law doesn't consider blogger or sites like Neowin journalism so they are not protected by "freedom of information" law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Veteran Posted September 7, 2005 Veteran Share Posted September 7, 2005 Horrid, when is someone going to take a stand against the Chinese Government? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Carlton Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Horrid, when is someone going to take a stand against the Chinese Government? 586490445[/snapback] ...probably when they stop shooting everyone who tries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Veteran Posted September 7, 2005 Veteran Share Posted September 7, 2005 ...probably when they stop shooting everyone who tries? 586490499[/snapback] I don't think a bullet was the motivator for Yahoo here, I'm thinking more along the lines of a large quanity of currency. (Yuans, I believe) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quanta Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 This looks more like Yahoo! matching up the identity of Shi Tao with his Yahoo email account, and giving all this data to the Chinese government. Very similar to what the RIAA and MPAA are doing to ISPs in the US to track down P2P users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nexus Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 So in essence Yahoo treats people like pawns. They sacrificed this person for having a different perspective and opinion and let him go to prison, for 10 yeares, just so they can share in the "world's biggest internet market". Greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Veteran Posted September 7, 2005 Veteran Share Posted September 7, 2005 topics merged and placed in RWI. This is more political than technical ~DivADPArADox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guru Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Horrid, when is someone going to take a stand against the Chinese Government? 586490445[/snapback] who will bell the cat? :rofl: Right now only US can take a stand, but US business lobby wouldn't want that to happen not to mention the current problems US's having I remember reading yahoo refusing to let parents of dead US soldier in Iraq look into his mail for privacy reasons... but a commie govt threatens them and they roll over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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