Human Rights Groups Are Not Yelling 'Yahoo!'
Feb. 9, 2006 — -- Business deals with oppressive regimes have gone on for centuries. But they are new for Internet companies, which supposedly traffic in freedom. Today the human rights group Reporters Without Borders accused Internet search-engine giant Yahoo of unconscionable complicity in the Chinese government's human rights violations.
"We have so many cyber-dissidents in jail that we are trying to get out of there, and knowing that some of them are in jail with the help of Western companies is really frustrating," said Lucie Morillon of Reporters Without Borders. "It's one thing to want to make money, to make profits. It's quite another one to become a weapon in the hands of the Chinese authorities."
Chinese dissident Li Zhi is in prison for exposing Chinese government corruption on a message board. Yahoo is accused of helping the government identify him. Chinese journalist Shi Tao anonymously e-mailed to pro-democracy Web sites examples of press censorship, including government instructions on how to cover the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. According to court papers, Yahoo helped the government trace that e-mail to Shi Tao's computer. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison
"When you help put a Chinese dissident in jail, you help the Communist Party stay in power," said Morilllon.
"They should certainly be ashamed. They should be more than just ashamed," added Xiao Qiang, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a Chinese human rights activist. "These people are sitting in prison for real time because Yahoo made the Chinese government's work much easier."
Mary Osako, spokeswoman for Yahoo, told ABC News that "the choice in China is not whether or not to comply with law enforcement demands for information; the choice is whether or not to remain in the country." Yahoo continues to believe, Osako said, that "active involvement in China contributes to the continued modernization of the country."
Google, Microsoft and Cisco may not have gone as far as Yahoo, but all these companies concur they have no choice but to make various compromises with the Chinese government.
The Chinese government declined to comment when contacted by ABC News.
The Price of Doing Business
This is the price of doing business and making money for shareholders, says John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University Law School. "It's going to be very hard to compete and make money in those markets while holding these ethics that these companies say they hold dear."
After both the Li Zhi and Shi Tao incidents, Yahoo agreed to let a company called Alibaba, in which Yahoo is a major stockholder, own and operate its Chinese division.
Today Chinese dissidents in the United States expressed outrage at the behavior of these companies. "It's a dirty business that costs people's life," said Harry Wu, a dissident now in the United States who was imprisoned in 12 different Chinese forced-labor camps for his pro-democracy activities. "Their money is built on people's suffering and blood."
Wu said the companies "should not cooperate with a totalitarian regime [that] causes the people [to suffer] and go to the jail."
Wei Jingsheng, a dissident who served more than 18 years in Chinese prisons for his pro-democracy activities, expressed similar disgust.
"Even though American companies say they are pushing American democracy, they've shown very clearly -- such as Yahoo and Google -- that they'll do anything and suppress citizens for the sake of making money," Wei told ABC News with the help of his interpreter.
Wei says Shi Tao's family has been in touch with him about Yahoo. "Not only are they upset about it, but they are extremely disappointed because these are American companies and they expected them to have a basic sense of ethics," he said.
Next week the House International Relations subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations will hold hearings on the matter.
"They're helping the secret police do a better job of casting a large dragnet that brings the best and the brightest and the bravest in China into the jail, into the concentration camps," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., in an interview with ABC News. "Profits don't trump human rights, and unfortunately, they seem to be doing that in this situation."
Toni L. Wilson contributed to this report