Yahoo strikes again?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Yahoo strikes again?
Date:   Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:25:52 -0500
From:   h_bray () globe com
To:     dave () farber net



For immediate release
February 8, 2006

CHINA

Another cyber-dissident imprisoned
because of data provided by Yahoo


Reporters Without Borders today condemned the US firm Yahoo! for
handing over data on one of its users in China which enabled the
authorities there to send him to prison for eight years, the second
such case that has come to light in recent months.

It called on Yahoo! to supply a list of all cyber-dissidents it has
provided data on, beginning with 81 people in China whose release the
worldwide press freedom organization is currently campaigning for.

It said it had discovered that Yahoo! customer and cyber-dissident Li
Zhi had been given his eight-year prison sentence in December 2003
based on electronic records provided by Yahoo.  “How many more cases
are we going to find?” it asked.

“We were sure the case of Shi Tao, who was jailed for 10 years last
April on the basis of Yahoo-supplied data, was not the only one.  Now
we know Yahoo works regularly and efficiently with the Chinese police.

“The firm says it simply responds to requests from the authorities for
data without ever knowing what it will be used for.  But this argument
no longer holds water.  Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest
political dissidents and journalists, not just ordinary criminals.  The
company must answer for what it is doing at the US congressional
hearing set for February 15.”

The foreign-based news website Boxun.com posted on February 5 the plea
of cyber-dissident Li’s lawyer, Zhang Sizhi, at an appeal court hearing
in February 2004
(www.peacehall.com/cgi-bin/news/gb_display/print_version.cgi?art=/gb/
china/2006/02&link=200602051139.shtml).  Zhang said his client, who
used the e-mail address libertywg () yahoo com cn and user-name
lizhi34100, had been sentenced on the basis of data handed over by
Yahoo! Hong Kong in a report dated 1 August 2003.

Li, a 35-year-old ex-civil servant from the southwestern province of
Dazhou, had been sentenced on December 10, 2003 to eight years in
prison for “inciting subversion.” He had been arrested the previous
August after he criticized in online discussion groups and articles the
corruption of local officials.

Local sources said Yahoo! Hong Kong’s cooperation with the police was
also mentioned in the court’s verdict on Li.

The US house of representatives Committee on International Relations
will hold a hearing on February 15 about the ethical responsibilities
of Internet firms.  Yahoo! has been invited to attend.

49 cyber-dissidents and 32 journalists are in prison in China for
posting on the Internet articles and criticism of the authorities.

For the Shi Tao case:  www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=14884

Julien Pain
Head of Internet Freedom desk
Reporters Without Borders
 TEL: ++ 33 (0) 1 44 83 84 71
 FAX: ++ 33 (0) 1 45 23 11 51
 internet () rsf org
 www.internet.rsf.org

Contact info:

Lucie Morillon
Reporters Without Borders
Washington Representative
Southern Railway Building
1500 K Street, N.W., Suite 600
Washington DC, 20005
Tel: 202 256 5613
Email: lucie.morillon () rsf org
Web: www.rsf.org

With Reporters Without Borders, don't wait to be deprived of news to
stand up and fight for it.



Hiawatha Bray

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