yahoo in china
Yahoo! in China - Background
Shi Tao
Shi Tao, a Chinese poet and journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence in China for sending an email to the U.S. According to a letter Amnesty International received from Yahoo! (YHOO), and Yahoo!'s own later public admissions, Yahoo! China provided account-holder information, in compliance with a government request, that led to Shi Tao's sentencing.
Mr. Shi was accused of "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities" after sending an email summarizing an internal Communist Party directive to a source in the US. The directive had warned Chinese journalists of possible social unrest during the anniversary of the June 4 Movement (in memory of the Tiananmen crackdown), and directed them not to fuel it via media reports. In addition to publicizing this government directive, Shi Tao had also written essays and articles highlighting issues around the pro-democracy movement, including an April 2004 essay criticizing the detention of Ding Zilin, founder of the Tiananmen Mothers organization which seeks information about what happened to victims of the 1989 crackdown.
Imprisoned for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, a right entrenched in international law and the Chinese Constitution, Shi Tao is considered a Prisoner of Conscience.
The Bigger Problem
Shi Tao's case is not an aberration. Governments around the world are asking companies, including Yahoo!, to comply with their efforts to repress people's rights to freedom of expression and privacy.
Companies must respect human rights, wherever they operate, and Yahoo! must give adequate consideration to the human rights implications of its operations and investments. Beginning in 2005, Amnesty International raised its concerns with Yahoo! about internet censorship in China generally and the case of Shi Tao in particular. Yahoo!'s initial response stated that "the choice in China or other countries is not whether to comply with law enforcement
Shi Tao
Shi Tao, a Chinese poet and journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence in China for sending an email to the U.S. According to a letter Amnesty International received from Yahoo! (YHOO), and Yahoo!'s own later public admissions, Yahoo! China provided account-holder information, in compliance with a government request, that led to Shi Tao's sentencing.
Mr. Shi was accused of "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities" after sending an email summarizing an internal Communist Party directive to a source in the US. The directive had warned Chinese journalists of possible social unrest during the anniversary of the June 4 Movement (in memory of the Tiananmen crackdown), and directed them not to fuel it via media reports. In addition to publicizing this government directive, Shi Tao had also written essays and articles highlighting issues around the pro-democracy movement, including an April 2004 essay criticizing the detention of Ding Zilin, founder of the Tiananmen Mothers organization which seeks information about what happened to victims of the 1989 crackdown.
Imprisoned for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, a right entrenched in international law and the Chinese Constitution, Shi Tao is considered a Prisoner of Conscience.
The Bigger Problem
Shi Tao's case is not an aberration. Governments around the world are asking companies, including Yahoo!, to comply with their efforts to repress people's rights to freedom of expression and privacy.
Companies must respect human rights, wherever they operate, and Yahoo! must give adequate consideration to the human rights implications of its operations and investments. Beginning in 2005, Amnesty International raised its concerns with Yahoo! about internet censorship in China generally and the case of Shi Tao in particular. Yahoo!'s initial response stated that "the choice in China or other countries is not whether to comply with law enforcement