Steven Clift
Thu, 08 Sep 2005 07:38:16 -0700
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A number of companies have been criticized for tweaking their search engines to be Chinese censorship-friendly, but this is the first time I've heard of a case where an American-based major portal/search site has been accused of releasing information that put someone in jail for a political information crime. Microsoft might censor Chinese blogs <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4088702.stm>, but that essentially keeps people out of jail. I don't agree with it, but the Yahoo case creates a much higher ethical dilemma, should you use the services of a company that helps a government jail people for expressing things that you do online everyday? If others know more about this case and what Yahoo's future promises and policies are, let me know. Steven Clift http://dowire.org From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4221538.stm Yahoo 'helped jail China writer' 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 said it had to operate within each country's laws. "Just like any other global company, Yahoo must ensure that its local country sites must operate within the laws, regulations and customs of the country in which they are based," said Mary Osako. 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. ... ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift UK Office Hours - 1pm - 11pm - - T: 0870.340.1266 Join my Democracies Online Newswire: http://dowire.org *** Past Messages, to Subscribe: http://dowire.org *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To UNSUBSCRIBE instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** New RSS XML Feed Available: *** http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@lists.umn.edu/maillist.xml