China
Yahoo! criticizes repression of Internet usersPosted Jul 20 2007
According to the Reporters Without Borders, Yahoo! Inc. has given belated recognition of the dramatic consequences of its cooperation with the Chinese police. Yahoo criticized China in a brief statement that was issued after journalist Shi Tao's family announced that it was filing a complaint against Yahoo! in the United States for providing the Chinese police with information
Yahoo! Inc. provided information that helped Chinese state security officials convict a Chinese journalist for leaking state secrets to a foreign Web site. The journalist, Shi Tao, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in June for sending an anonymous posting to a New York-based, Chinese-language Web site that authorities said contained state secrets. His posting summarized a communication from Communist Party authorities to media outlets around the country. Shi's case has become a prominent symbol of the recent tightening of media controls in the one-party state, where authorities often punish outspoken journalists for leaking information deemed secret, the New York Times said.
Under the proposed Global Online freedom Act from Republican Rep. Christopher Smith US companies would be banned from cooperating with repressive regimes. The act was resubmitted to the US congress in January. For more information, visit www.rsf.org or click here.