Yahoo! Sued Over Human Rights

A human rights group is suing Yahoo Inc. on the grounds that the company assisted China's communist government with torture and dropping dime on dissidents. The World Organization for Human Rights USA seeks unspecific damages and Yahoo's participation in securing the release of the dissidents. Just after I complimented them on being more internationally educated and more refined than Google too, it never fails.  

Yahoo! acknowledges turning over data to the Chinese government under penalty of law there according to an AP story via Yahoo! News. Company spokesman Jim Culligan said this matter should have been approached diplomatically rather than in the courts. He also talked about Yahoo's concern for those detained and said Yahoo's continued business in China combined with the Internet presence there could lead to change.

One of the dissidents, Wang Xiaoning, has joined the suit and is visiting the US in support of the group's campaign. Other members of the dissident group have not come foreword out of fear of reprisals against family still in China. One goal of the suit is to determine the extent of Yahoo's complicity in the events.

Yahoo! rivals Microsoft and Google have also been accused of helping the Chinese government to crush dissident groups in exchange for access to booming Internet markets according to the Yahoo story.

So, while all these companies brag about freedom of speech every time they piss off some government and get banned, they appear willing to crush people and have them tortured if there is a chance of making money. I think it is commendable of Yahoo! that they even ran this story, but the implications and credibility issues for all of these companies leaves a lot to be desired.