Shi Tao Latest
From ft.com, and not yet at BooYahoo or Blog du R1:
A leading Chinese advocate of internet freedoms has issued a scathing denunciation of the US portal Yahoo for its role in helping Communist authorities to prosecute an independent-minded local journalist, jailed for 10 years for “leaking state secrets”.
Veteran dissident Liu Xiaobo, in an open letter to Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, accuses the US company of betraying its customers and supporting dictatorship by providing information on journalist Shi Tao to Chinese authorities....
Mr Shi was jailed for 10 years in April, apparently for revealing information about a media crackdown by party propaganda officials.
Mr Liu...who has spent years in jail for his criticism of the Communist party, says Yahoo has enough market clout not to need to toady to authorities.
International companies are ignoring basic human rights in return for business opportunity, while the Communist party is offering profits in return for continued control of the internet and the ability to intimidate dissidents, Mr Liu writes....
Google has excluded sites blocked by the state from its Chinese news service, while MSN banned the words “freedom” and “democracy” from parts of its new Chinese website.
In his letter, Mr Liu calls on internet users to boycott Yahoo services until the company apologises to Mr Shi, compensates his family and “ceases close co-operation” with China's censors.
Mr Liu also challenges Yahoo to explain the legal basis of the apparent decision by its Hong Kong business to provide information on Mr Shi, even though the former British colony has an independent judiciary.
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