http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2007/10/17/yahoo-the-shi-tao-case-and-the-benefit-of-the-doubt/ From the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:34:17 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2007/10/17/yahoo-the-shi-tao-case-and-the-benefit-of-the-doubt/comment-page-1/#comment-32881 Was wusste Yahoo! im Fall Shi Tao? auf Freie Netze. Freie Kultur. Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:32:11 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2007/10/17/yahoo-the-shi-tao-case-and-the-benefi#comment-32881 [...] John Palfrey diskutiert das höchst problematische Verhalten von Yahoo! im Shi Tao Fall: Rep. Tom Lantos has called on Yahoo! executives to return to Congress to talk about what they knew and when in the Shi Tao case. Rep. Lantos alleges that Yahoo!’s general counsel misled a hearing (at which I and others submitted testimony, too) in 2006 by indicating that the company knew less than it actually did about why the Chinese state police were asking for information about Shi, a dissident and journalist. Yahoo! did turn over the information; the Chinese prosecuted Shi; he remains in jail; and the issue continues to point to the single hardest thing about our US tech companies doing business in places that practice online censorship and surveillance. The case has led to Congressional hearings, proposed legislation, shareholder motions, and lawsuits against Yahoo! Geschrieben in Medienrecht, Meinungsfreiheit, Menschenrechte [...] [...] John Palfrey diskutiert das höchst problematische Verhalten von Yahoo! im Shi Tao Fall: Rep. Tom Lantos has called on Yahoo! executives to return to Congress to talk about what they knew and when in the Shi Tao case. Rep. Lantos alleges that Yahoo!’s general counsel misled a hearing (at which I and others submitted testimony, too) in 2006 by indicating that the company knew less than it actually did about why the Chinese state police were asking for information about Shi, a dissident and journalist. Yahoo! did turn over the information; the Chinese prosecuted Shi; he remains in jail; and the issue continues to point to the single hardest thing about our US tech companies doing business in places that practice online censorship and surveillance. The case has led to Congressional hearings, proposed legislation, shareholder motions, and lawsuits against Yahoo! Geschrieben in Medienrecht, Meinungsfreiheit, Menschenrechte [...]

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2007/10/17/yahoo-the-shi-tao-case-and-the-benefit-of-the-doubt/comment-page-1/#comment-32761 Joshua Rosenzweig Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:41:07 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2007/10/17/yahoo-the-shi-tao-case-and-the-benefi#comment-32761 And what was not public at the time of Callahan's testimony (but was presumably known by Yahoo! execs like him) was that, prior to the Shi Tao investigation, Chinese police had requested (and were given) information about at least three other dissidents in clearly-identified "subversion" cases -- much less ambiguous in their targeting of political dissidents. (See <a href="http://www.duihua.org/2007/07/more-evidence-emerges-on-yahoos-role-in.html" rel="nofollow">this post</a> for more details.) In other words, the Shi Tao request was not made in a vacuum: in addition to not having "no information" about that particular investigation, Yahoo! also cannot claim to have "no information" about the other investigations into dissident activity that preceded it. And what was not public at the time of Callahan’s testimony (but was presumably known by Yahoo! execs like him) was that, prior to the Shi Tao investigation, Chinese police had requested (and were given) information about at least three other dissidents in clearly-identified “subversion” cases — much less ambiguous in their targeting of political dissidents. (See this post for more details.) In other words, the Shi Tao request was not made in a vacuum: in addition to not having “no information” about that particular investigation, Yahoo! also cannot claim to have “no information” about the other investigations into dissident activity that preceded it.

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2007/10/17/yahoo-the-shi-tao-case-and-the-benefit-of-the-doubt/comment-page-1/#comment-32573 Rebecca MacKinnon Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:27:05 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2007/10/17/yahoo-the-shi-tao-case-and-the-benefi#comment-32573 Yahoo! did know "a little bit more" about why the Chinese police came knocking. The Beijing public security bureau request for information specified that the account in question related to a "state secrets" case. That is one of the two kinds of charges under which most dissidents are jailed. See <a href="http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2007/07/shi-taos-case-y.html" rel="nofollow">this blog post</a> for details. Yahoo! did know “a little bit more” about why the Chinese police came knocking. The Beijing public security bureau request for information specified that the account in question related to a “state secrets” case. That is one of the two kinds of charges under which most dissidents are jailed. See this blog post for details.

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