Tsing Tao - Yahoo Case
...the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 and defended the company’s actions to collaborate with the Chinese Government by providing user information, which led to the imprisonment of Chinese journalist Shi Tao.
Shi Tao, journalist for the daily Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Business News) was convicted on April 27, 2005 for ‘divulging state secrets to a foreign entity’ on April 20, 2004 when he used his personal Yahoo account to email Hong Zhesheng in New York, summarizing a confidential meeting regarding how the Chinese Governments wanted the media to report the 15th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. Hong Zhesheng was one of the founders of the Asia Democracy Foundation as well as editor in chief of the foreign web site “Democracy Forum” and the electronic publication “Democracy News.” The information was posted under the alias 198964 on the Democracy Forum and later reposted for publication on other foreign websites such as “Boxum News” and the “China Democracy & Justice Party.”
Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong), upon receipt of a subpoena-like document, decided to turnover the requested user information and email content to the Chinese government, which resulted in Shi Tao’s arrest and a 10-year imprisonment. Prior to Shi Tao, there were other journalists such as Wang Xiaoning and Li Zhi, both whom were convicted in 2003 on similar charges and sentences, resulting from Yahoo Holdings’ (Hong Kong) cooperation in providing details of their email registration information to the Chinese government.
Family members of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning sued Yahoo Inc for, amongst other violations, assisting in the commission of torture and other human rights abuses in other countries, that are prohibited by law for US companies. In addition, Yahoo Inc is currently facing charges by lawmakers for misinforming Congress about the extent of the company’s...
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