BEIJING — A media watchdog group has accused American Internet giant Yahoo of helping the Chinese government track down a journalist, who later was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of e-mailing state secrets.
Reporters Without Borders said Internet portal Yahoo provided information that enabled the Chinese government to link sensitive materials found on the Internet to the personal computer of reporter Shi Tao.
"We know Yahoo has been collaborating with the Chinese government on censorship issues, that's well known," said Julien Pain, head of the group's Internet monitoring group in Paris. "We guessed they might also be helping the Chinese government identify cyber dissidents, tracking people down. It's the first time we have proof they are doing this."
Pain cited a translation of the April verdict, in which prosecutors say they obtained information from Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., part of Yahoo's global network.
Yahoo's legal department in Beijing didn't respond to inquiries, and its U.S. spokesman refused to answer questions about the case.
"Just like any other global company, Yahoo must ensure that its local country sites must operate within the laws, regulations and customs of the country in which they are based," the company said in a written statement.
Industry insiders say Yahoo probably had no choice but to provide whatever information the Chinese authorities wanted for an investigation allegedly involving national security.
"As a company they are in no position to resist the government," said Fang Xingdong, chief executive of Bokee, China's largest web log service provider. Rights advocates counter that the government can define state secrets so vaguely that in effect, it criminalizes any communication it deems threatening.
Big technology firms such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Google have come under international criticism for yielding to Beijing's strict censorship rules in order to protect their advances in the potentially lucrative Chinese online market. With nearly 100 million users, it is second only to that of the U.S.
That cooperation has meant finding ways to forbid words that Beijing says are subversive. Microsoft and its Chinese partner, for example, have agreed to restrict sensitive words such as "liberty," "capitalism" and "human rights," warning users to "delete the prohibited expression."
