Yahoo is a Communist organization:
MONTREAL, Sept. 7 /CNW Telbec/ - The text of the verdict in the case
of
journalist Shi Tao - sentenced in April to 10 years in prison for
"divulging
state secrets abroad" - shows that Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd.
provided
China's state security authorities with details that helped to
identify and
convict him, Reporters Without Borders said today.
"We already knew that Yahoo! collaborates enthusiastically with
the
Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a
Chinese
police informant as well," the press freedom organisation said.
"Yahoo! obviously complied with requests from the Chinese
authorities to
furnish information regarding an IP address that linked Shi Tao to
materials
posted online, and the company will yet again simply state that they
just
conform to the laws of the countries in which they operate," the
organisation
said. "But does the fact that this corporation operates under Chinese
law free
it from all ethical considerations? How far will it go to please
Beijing?"
Reporters Without Borders added: "Information supplied by Yahoo!
led to
the conviction of a good journalist who has paid dearly for trying to
get the
news out. It is one thing to turn a blind eye to the Chinese
government's
abuses and it is quite another thing to collaborate."
Translated into English by the Dui Hua Foundation (which works to
document the cases of Chinese political prisoners), the verdict
reveals that
Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. provided the Chinese investigating
organs
with detailed information that apparently enabled them to link Shi's
personal
e-mail account ( huoya...@yahoo.com.cn ) and the specific message
containing information treated as a "state secret" to the IP address
of his
computer.
Yahoo ! Holdings (Hong Kong) is subject to Hong Kong legislation,
which
does not spell out the responsibilities in this kind of situation of
companies
that provide e-mail services. Nonetheless, it is reportedly customary
for e-
mail service and Internet access providers to transmit information to
the
police about their clients when shown a court order.
Tests carried out by Reporters Without Borders seem to indicate
that the
servers used for the Yahoo.com.cn e-mail service, from which the
information
about Shi was extracted, are located on the Chinese mainland.
Shi Tao
Aged 37, Shi worked for the daily Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary
Business News). He was convicted on 30 April of sending foreign-based
websites
the text of an internal message which the authorities had sent to his
newspaper warning journalists of the dangers of social destabilisation
and
risks resulting from the return of certain dissidents on the 15th
anniversary
of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Chinese state security insisted during the trial that the message
was
"Jue Mi" (top secret). Shi admitted sending it out by e-mail but
disputed that
it was a secret document. He is still being held in a prison in
Changsha to
which he was sent after his arrest in the northeastern city of Taiyuan
on 24
November 2004.
Yahoo! and Chinese censorship
For years Yahoo! has allowed the Chinese version of its search
engine to
be censored. In 2002, Yahoo! voluntarily signed the "Public Pledge on
Self-
Discipline for the China Internet Industry", agreeing to abide by PRC
censorship regulations. Searches deemed sensitive by the Chinese
authorities
such as "Taiwan independence" in Chinese into the Yahoo! China search
engine,
retrieve only a limited and approved set of results.
A US-based multinational, Yahoo! Appears to be willing to go to
any
lengths to gain shares of the Chinese market and it is investing
heavily in
local companies. In 2003, it spent 120 million dollars to buy the
search
engine 3721.com. More recently Yahoo! acquired a large stake in the
Internet
giant Alibaba in an operation that reportedly cost nearly a billion
dollars.
Reporters Without Borders has written several times to Yahoo!
executives in an
attempt to alert it to the ethical issues raised by its Chinese
investments.
These letters have so far received no answer.
For further information: Emily Jacquard, Responsable du bureau
canadien,
Reporters sans frontières, (514) 521-4111, Cell: (514) 258-4208, Fax:
(514) 521-7771, rsfc...@rsf.org, www.internet.rsf.org
Good post thanks. Yes there are several interesting shortwave
listening and equipment groups on Yahoo. In addition to those on your
extensive list there are several devoted to specific receivers:
Kenwood R5000, Gundid, Degen, Tecsun, etc., etc.
And the discussions are for the most part focused on the hobby!
Sure - an email address and password is about it for most of them. It
really is an unusual atmosphere though because there is little flaming
and people stay on topic. The groups are pretty much self policing
although there is a moderator/owner for each.
BOR-ing...
"RHF" <rhf-new...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:1126787919.3...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...