A media watchdog group claimed on Tuesday Yahoo provided information that helped Chinese officials convict a journalist accused of leaking state secrets.
Shi Tao, a 37-year-old writer for the Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Business News), was sentenced in April to 10 years in prison, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. He was convicted of sending to foreign Web sites a "top secret" government message that had been sent to his newspaper.
The international organization said recently translated court papers revealed that Yahoo Holdings in Hong Kong provided Chinese investigators with detailed information that helped them link Shi's personal email account and a specific message containing the "state secret" to the IP address of his computer.
The state secret was a message to Shi's newspaper warning journalists of the dangers associated with dissidents returning to mark the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, according to the group. Shi admitted sending the email but disputed whether it was a secret document.
"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 its statement.
A Yahoo spokesperson said the company is looking into the charges but could not immediately comment.
The harsh criticism comes as Yahoo and rivals Microsoft and Google are engaged in a high-stakes fight to expand into the lucrative Chinese marketplace.
Just last month, Yahoo paid $1bn for a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com, which many consider to be the largest e-commerce company in China. Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft are fighting in the American courts over the employment of Kai-Fu Lee, a former Microsoft employee who helped the software giant build up its Chinese offices. Google hopes Lee will help expand its presence in China as well.
Talkback
Let us face the truth regarding trade with China and the prerequisites placed by the Chinese. We leave our morals, ethics and national interests at the door. Collectively, the rest of the world is in a mad dash for the "gold in them thar hills" and the gold has blinded us to the regime that we are willing to uphold and strengthen as we pour billions into theiir cash registers.
We justfiy it with "trade will OPEN UP China"...perhaps, but in this headlong rush to be in on the ground floor, we won't let human rights get in the way...we will tout "human rights" as we attack Cuba and cut them off trying to choke their leadership, willingly damaging their people in the process...how hypocritical.
It is a "dog eat dog" world...let us not pretend that ethical concerns determine our behavior...Yahoo and Google have proved that beyond any shadow of belief...if we allowed a little collusion with regard to ethical business standards, we could collectively face the Chinese down and their population could feel the deprivation that their immoral leadership creates...instead we bolster their corrupt system with our greedy appeasement...is it any wonder that people are violently upset with "the New World Order"?
We see that violence in the streets on many continents. Is it paranoid to assume that we had headed for corporate rather than governmental control of our world?
How often do we see uncompromising adherence to principles. For a better world, that is where our investments should flow.
Any suggestions?