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Yahoo! slammed by human rights groups

Posted: 07/09/05 By: Jemima Kiss
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Yahoo! - on the right side of the wrong laws?

Press freedom group Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has accused Yahoo! of collaborating with the Chinese government after it was revealed that the web giant provided information that helped to sentence a journalist to ten years in prison.

Chinese journalist Shi Tao was found guilty of 'divulging state secrets' after forwarding a government email to the foreign press.

Marked 'top secret', the email warned journalists of the risks posed by the return of dissidents on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Mr Tao, a former journalist on the Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Business News) was sentenced on 30 April. An English translation of the trial verdict, made by San Fransisco-based human rights group the Dui Hua Foundation, showed that information provided by Yahoo! allowed the authorities to link Mr Tao's email account with the IP address used to forward the 'top secret' email.

"It is one thing to turn a blind eye to the Chinese government's abuses and it is quite another thing to collaborate," said a spokesperson for RSF.

"Does the fact that this corporation operates under Chinese law free it from all ethical considerations? How far will it go to please Beijing?"

More news from journalism.co.uk:
Yahoo! editor slams mainstream news
Jail for Chinese web hack
China searches censored
China is top of the gaggers
Chinese journalist begins hunger strike
Yahoo in Chinese freedom of speech row

Got a story? Email our news team: Laura Oliver; Judith Townend or telephone +44 (0)1273 384290. You can also follow us on Twitter: @journalismnews / @LauraOliver / @JTownend.

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