Did Yahoo! Assist In The Torture Of A Chinese Blogger?
I'm shamelessly reposting an article I read over on Uneasysilence.com:
"Nothing makes a better headline line then a major company and the word torture near it. Yahoo is actually standing accused of knowingly “aiding and abetting” torture of Chinese blogging dissidents.
The search company said yesterday that the legal action was “a political case challenging the Chinese Government” which had no place in the US courts. It said that it had merely been obeying the law when it gave Chinese authorities the registration information of a user who had promoted democracy in a forum.
The company was responding to a lawsuit filed in April by the wife of Wang Xiaoning, a writer with a Yahoo! e-mail account who was jailed for ten years in 2003 after he was found guilty by a Chinese court of “incitement to subvert state power.”
Yahoo! was referred to ten times in the court’s verdict, and the company has acknowledged handing over information – including to the content of e-mails sent by Mr Wang – when requested to do so.
Now, I’m tired of this political mess. China, which is a recognized flagrant human rights violator, is slowly and strategically purchasing, gaining control and influencing strategic US assets - and we are FINE with it. I think it is time for people to closely analyze what is happening in the global economy and hold some accountability to corporations who deal with countries that do not hesitate to harm its population for a profit."
...I agree! But now I've got to decide if I actually agree enough to totally get rid of my Yahoo email account :-/
Comments
It makes me angry, but the fact is that China could just say to Yahoo "you can't do business in our country." If you asked the majority of Internet users in China whether they'd rather have freedom and privacy on the Internet or not at all, guess which one they're going to choose. So it's not really Yahoo's crime, as far as I can see. It's the cost of doing business with China.
To the question of China's role in the global economy, I believe people had better wake up and start paying attention to them. We are heavily dependent on their crappy goods, they are just inches away from that line in the sand over Taiwan, and they hate that we are reaching their people electronically now. The Chinese and the Russians both make me very nervous lately.