Considering the past cases of extreme eagerness by Western companies to do business in China at all costs, Yahoo! could be in trouble. Unfortunately when I look around at recent actions in the US with phone, internet and even prescription medicine records, the Bush administration appears to be making serious efforts to create yet another police state that has internet access for all and individual rights and privacy for none. Hooray.
In a brave legal action against the great firewall of China, a jailed political prisoner and his wife have sued Yahoo! in a US court, accusing the internet firm of contributing to torture by helping authorities identify dissidents who were later beaten and imprisoned.It is going to be interesting to see how much or how little Yahoo! has provided to Chinese government authorities.
Wang Xiaoningwas imprisoned in September 2003 for 10 years for the crime of "incitement to subvert state power" after he emailed electronic journals calling for democratic reform and an end to single-party rule in a Yahoo! group in 2000 and 2001.
He was arrested by Chinese police in September 2002 and claims he was kicked and beaten during his detention.
Mr Wang and his wife Yu Ling claim the Hong Kong unit of Yahoo! provided mainland police with information linking Mr Wang to the postings, a claim that Yahoo! denies.
