Jailed dissident’s wife sues Yahoo
p2pnet.net news:- A Chinese political prisoner and his wife are suing Yahoo, claiming it aided “the commission of torture” by helping Chinese authorities to identify political dissidents, “who were later beaten and imprisoned,” says The New York Times.
Wang Xiaoning was jailed for 10 years after distributing material by email and through Yahoo! Groups he’d established anonymously in mainland China and Hong Kong, said p2pnet in March, going on that according to Human Rights in China, evidence used against him was information supplied by Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Wang’s wife, Yu Ling (right) arrived in the US saying she planned to sue Yahoo US for allegedly helping to put her husband in jail in China.
Now, “The suit, filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act, is believed to be the first of its kind against an Internet company for its activities in China,” says the NYT
Wang Xiaoning, Yu Ling and “other unnamed defendants seek damages and an injunction barring Yahoo from identifying dissidents to Chinese authorities”.
Yahoo said it hadn’t seen the suit, filed in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, “and could not comment on the allegations,” says the story, quoting Yahoo spokesman Jim Cullinan as saying, “Companies doing business in China are forced to comply with Chinese law.”
Several companies, including Cisco Systems, Google and Microsoft, have also come under fire, “with some politicians and human rights groups accusing them of helping the government monitor and censor the Internet in China,” it points out.
“But Yahoo has come under particularly sharp criticism. Human rights groups say that Yahoo has helped identify at least four people, including the journalist Shi Tao in 2004, who have since been imprisoned for voicing dissent in cyberspace” and, “Our concern is that Yahoo, as far as we know, is continuing this practice,” the NYT hasd Morton Sklar, executive director of the World Organization for Human Rights USA and a lawyer for the plaintiffs, declaring.
Yahoo was said to have provided evidence which ultimately allowed China to jail Jiang Lijun for four years, said the p2pnet post, continuing:
“A Chinese court judgement showed Yahoo helped Chinese police to identify him, said Reporters Without Borders.
“Shi Tao and Li Zhi were similary imprisoned, say Political Gateway and Reporters Without Borders, respectively.
“Yahoo has to, ‘to think of a way in which the Internet phenomenon can continue to grow and reach more users and at the same time comply with local laws,’ says co-founder Jerry Yang.”
And while Yang and his team ponder ………..
Also See:
The New York Times – Chinese Political Prisoner Sues in U.S. Court, Saying Yahoo Helped Identify Dissidents, April 19, 2007
p2pnet – Jailed dissident’s wife to sue Yahoo, March 8, 2007
Jiang Lijun – Yahoo: new China scandal, April 20, 2006
Shi Tao – Yahoo Shi Tao scandal, March 31, 2006
Li Zhi – Yahoo: 2nd China ‘jail’ scandal, February 9, 2006
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
April 20th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Anything that sheds some light on the fact that the big multi nationals are making huge profits directly off human rights abuse, misery, and oppression is a good thing. IMHO Yahoo is not really much worse than most other big biz doing business in China. They all have blood on their hands, as do the rest of us who buy the Chinese goods…
April 20th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
That is very stupid. That is like saying a GUN COMPANY is responsible for the massacare that occured a few days ago at Virginia Tech because they made guns.
People always want someone else to blame for THEIR problems!
April 21st, 2007 at 2:17 am
The <a href=”http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070420.BCWIKIPEDIAS20/TPStory/?query=wayne+crookes”>suit by Wayne Crookes</a> presents a way to subvert the US law that Yu Ling is relying on.
Crookes doesn’t even have to win. All he needs is to force yahoo or google or Wikipedia to provide him with IP addresses or other information useful to identify people posting anonymously or pseudonymously. If he can do this with a little BC libel suit, then, China or North Korea or Russia can easily find someone to complain about a dissident’s postings (say an official or business person) and get them to force the US service provider to hand over the addresses. Then that person can be tortured and persecuted without the US provider being “directly” involved.
Wayne Crookes and his gang are the biggest threat to freedom on this planet. By proving that even petty-minded lawsuits on wholly political matters in free countries provides access to this kind of data, they are proving that any government or oppressive gang can get access to it. It’s critical to fight the many Crookes cases and make sure everyone understands freedom’s at stake.
April 21st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
http://p2pnet.net/story/12023
http://p2pnet.net/story/12024
Cheers!
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Gun companies are not liable, just the loosers who depend on an outdated law and cosept stating that people should be able to easily purchase guns.
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:04 pm
An US business whould not be held responsible for an overseas susiderary what follows the local laws.
You may not like, and I personally disagree with this laws of this sort, but your concept of laws are limited to only where you live.
Each culture has it’s culture and rules, and to deny them that is as stupid as sending a military force to a sovern country, just because they are a thorn in the military top’s side.
If enough people feel that their government is wrong, there are many ways for them to change it, whether it be throwing the rulling party out of the country, or comming to an understanding with the present government.
It is not easy, but at the same time, it has nothing to do with power hungry nation’s leaders (obvious refferences withheld).