Hypocrisy has no ends,Yahoo's late outcoming. To condemn China for repression of internet users by one mouth and to provide the Chinese government with all the tools and development needed to continue such draconian repression of internet users, Yahoo 's condemning China for lack of free speech seems to be for the purpose of saving their image...
Yahoo's actions in China show otherwise, take the case of Shi Tao...
If Yahoo wants to truly condemn China,,,let us see Yahoo take real action like pulling out of China, or taking a stronger stand against the Chinese government...a few empty words that they know is good for image building is useless. Start with changing Yahoo's policies first...then with criticism...
Please read the article below:
Yahoo condemns lack of free speech in China, but says it must follow country?s law
Dikky Sinn
Canadian Press
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
HONG KONG (AP) - China should not punish people for expressing their political views on the Internet, Yahoo Inc. said on Monday - one day after the mother of a jailed Chinese reporter announced she was suing the U.S. company for helping officials imprison her son.
Yahoo criticized China in a brief statement that didn't specifically mention the case of jailed journalist Shi Tao, whose mother visited Hong Kong on Sunday. Shi was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 after sending an e-mail about Chinese media restrictions.
"Yahoo is dismayed that citizens in China have been imprisoned for expressing their political views on the Internet," the company said in the statement faxed to The Associated Press, which asked Yahoo to comment on Shi's lawsuit.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Internet company also said it has told China that it condemns "punishment of any activity internationally recognized as free expression."
However, Yahoo added that companies operating in China must comply with Chinese law or risk having their employees face civil or criminal penalties.
The company has acknowledged sharing information about Shi with Chinese authorities. Shi was writing for the financial publication Contemporary Business News when he circulated an e-mail with his notes about a government circular concerning media restrictions. He was convicted of leaking state secrets.
Shi's legal challenge, filed on May 29 in U.S. District Court, is part of a lawsuit filed earlier by the World Organization for Human Rights USA. The group is suing Yahoo Inc. and its subsidiary in Hong Kong. Also named is Alibaba.com Inc., a Yahoo partner that runs Yahoo China.
On Sunday in Hong Kong, Shi's mother, Gao Qingsheng, insisted her son was innocent and that the family would press ahead with the legal action.
"I believe my son is innocent. We will fight until the end," she told reporters.
Gao and Hong Kong lawyer Albert Ho, who is also a legislator, planned to leave for Washington on Tuesday to discuss Shi's case with lawyers and members of the U.S. Congress, said Patrick Poon, an activist who helped organize Gao's news conference on Sunday.
The 61-year-old mother was in South Africa last week to receive the annual Golden Pen of Freedom prize on behalf of her son.
Plaintiffs in the American case also include imprisoned dissident Wang Xiaoning and his wife, Yu Ling.
Wang was sentenced in September 2003 on the charge of "incitement to subvert state power," a vaguely defined statute that the Communist Party frequently uses to punish its political critics.
The Chinese government said Wang distributed pro-democracy writings authored by him and others by e-mail and through Yahoo Groups, an online e-mail community.
© The Canadian Press 2007
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