Chinese Internet users who violate their own government's laws by browsing forbidden web sites or writing anti-government blogs, probably worry about friends, neighbors, or co-workers turning them in for their "illegal" activities. They now have a new worry...a stoolpidgeon who is recording their computer moves and turning the data over to the Chinese Secret Police. That "rat" is none other than computer giant Yahoo.
It has now been made public that Yahoo has provided information to the Chinese government that resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of three individuals who are accused of subversion. In one case, Yahoo willingly handed over information that enabled officials to link the IP address of the journalist's computer to a state secret he'd forwarded to foreign media via e-mail. In this case, the "state secret" was a message warning Chinese journalists of the dangers of social destabilization and risks resulting from the return of certain dissidents on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
In the most recent case, Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders has found court documents that show Yahoo helped Chinese officials identify Jiang Lijun, who was imprisoned in November 2003 for penning pro-democracy articles. Jiang, 39, was sentenced to four years in prison in November 2003 for subversive activities aimed at overthrowing the ruling Communist Party.
In the third case, Li Zhi, from southwestern China, was sentenced to prison for subversion after posting comments online criticizing official corruption.
According to Reporters Without Borders, "Little by little we are piecing together the evidence for what we have long suspected, that Yahoo is implicated in the arrest of most of the people that we have been defending." The group defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world.
A Yahoo spokeswoman said the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is not familiar with Jiang's case. "We condemn punishment of any activity internationally recognized as free expression, whether that activity takes place in China or anywhere else in the world," she said.
Like all foreign technology companies doing business in China, Yahoo signed China's "Public Pledge on Self-discipline for the Chinese Internet Industry," a voluntary agreement to monitor and restrict information deemed "harmful" by Beijing, but I am sure that no one thought the company would follow it to the letter.
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