Yahoo! sued over disclosure of Chinese citizens' identities

Maikeru · Aug 28, 2007

Yahoo on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the Internet company by civil rights advocates, arguing that it had become unfairly ensnared in a political debate over free speech in China.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., company is fighting efforts to hold it accountable for the imprisonment and alleged torture of two Chinese citizens after it disclosed their identities to government officials. Yahoo says it did so to comply with the Chinese government's rules.

Yahoo's predicament illustrates the difficulty many Internet companies face in expanding to China: They are information brokers in a country that tightly controls the spread of information.

In a 40-page defense filed in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Yahoo argued that American courts were no place for airing political grievances against the Chinese government.

"This is a political and diplomatic issue, not a legal one," Yahoo spokeswoman Kelley Benander said. "The real issue here is the plaintiffs' outrage at the behavior and laws of the Chinese government. The U.S. court system is not the forum for addressing these political concerns."

The World Organization for Human Rights USA filed the lawsuit in April on behalf of Wang Xiaoning, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for advocating Democratic reform in articles circulated on the Internet, and his wife, Yu Ling. It later added journalist Shi Tao, who is serving a 10-year sentence for detailing the government restrictions imposed on journalists in connection with the 15-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The suit alleges that these people — and others who have yet to be identified — were tortured or subjected to inhumane treatment at the hands of Chinese authorities because of information that Yahoo, Yahoo China or Alibaba.com, a Chinese company in which Yahoo has a minority stake, provided the government.

Yahoo didn't dispute turning over information in response to Chinese government demands but contended there was little connection between that information and the ensuing arrest, prosecution and conviction of the prisoners.

I'm against companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo turning over information, but they are unfortunately willing to do whatever it takes for them to be able to do business in the massive Chinese market.

This isn't the first time the issue has been mentioned, and it certainly isn't the last.

Cheers!

Maikeru Hatamoto

TechSpot

Yahoo! sued over disclosure of Chinese citizens' identities

Maikeru Newcomer, in training