Bits: Yahoo Wants China Torture Case Dismissed
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The company says a suit over its cooperation with Chinese authorities is really something that should be sorted out in China.
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BEIJING, Dec. 1 -- The three-year fraud sentence of a Beijing-based researcher for the New York Times was upheld by Beijing's High Court on Friday, the only remaining charge against him after a more serious accusation of leaking state secrets was dismissed in August.
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Did Yahoo break U.S. law by supplying confidential information about dissidents that led to their imprisonment and torture by the Chinese government? On Monday, the Internet giant asked a federal judge in Oakland, California to dismiss a lawsuit that claims it did.
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(InfoWorld) - A Chinese journalist jailed in part due to e-mail evidence provided by a Yahoo subsidiary plans to file a lawsuit in the U.S. against the Internet company within the next few months. "We're also trying to line up other victims for a class-action. We've been in touch with a few others, but we haven't signed anyone up yet. It's a very sensitive issue because there could be reprisals against their families," said Albert Ho, a legislator in Hong Kong and lawyer in the case, in a telephone interview. A Yahoo spokeswoman in Hong Kong could not be reached for comment. A U.S.Â civil suit against YahooÂ on behalf of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist convicted of "divulging state secrets" by Beijing in partÂ due to an e-mail Yahoo providedÂ to Chinese authorities, will likely be filed in either New York or California, Ho said. Tao's e-mail, sent from a Yahoo account in April, 2004 to a pro-China democracy Web site in New York, contained a Beijing order for officials to be on guard for unrest and dissident activity ahead of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The new lawsuit would come just months after Ho filed a complaint to Hong Kong authorities against Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) on behalf of Tao. It also comes at a time whenÂ international pressure is increasingÂ on Internet companies to handle the private data of their users more carefully, particularly with respect to human rights. Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have both criticized Yahoo over the Tao incident, and a group of U.S. lawmakersÂ blasted a group of Internet companiesÂ earlier this year, including Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and Cisco Systems, for failing to uphold free expression in China. "Internet companies should not disclose personal information that could violate the basic human rights of their users," Ho said. He said Tao, who is not a U.S. citizen, could file a lawsuit in the country under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789. The group has not yet decided on a U.S. law firm to retain for the case, nor would Ho divulge the specific strategy or damages the group intends to seek. The Hong Kong case remains pending because an investigation by authorities has not been finished yet, Ho said. Yahoo could face a fine, a civil lawsuit, or both if Hong Kong's Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data rules that it illegally divulged personal data used to put Tao in jail. The plaintiffs argue that Yahoo Hong Kong had no right to comply with a request from China for Tao's personal data, and requested that the office investigate the matter. Yahoo has denied any involvement in the case by its Hong Kong arm. The company has said any information provided to Chinese authorities in this case would have come from Yahoo's operations in China, rather than Hong Kong. However, Yahoo's Chinese and Hong Kong operations were both part of the same corporate entity, Yahoo Hong Kong, at that time In 2005, Alibaba.com acquired Yahoo's Chinese operations as part of a deal that saw Yahoo take a stake in the Chinese Internet company.
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The Internet giant Yahoo has asked a US court to dismiss a lawsuit it called &quot;political&quot; and said its Chinese subsidiary obeyed local laws when it provided information about dissidents.
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Amnesty International accused Yahoo, Microsoft and Google on Thursday of violating human rights principles by cooperating with China's efforts to censor the Web and called on them to lobby for the release of jailed cyber-dissidents.
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Yahoo Inc.  has filed a  motion to dismiss a lawsuit over the company's alleged role in  the imprisonment of two Chinese dissidents, arguing U.S. courts  have no jurisdiction over Chinese government actions against  its own citizens.
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Saying it was only complying with Chinese law, Yahoo wants a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by a human rights group, alleging that it provided information used by the Chinese government to imprison four dissidents.
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An industry group says it has won a new round in a court battle with Yahoo Inc.'s China arm, which is accused of helping online music pirates.
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In November the court will consider a lawsuit against Yahoo by jailed Chinese dissidents.
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Defending its actions in disclosing the identities of Chinese dissidents, Yahoo on Monday said it acted with Chinese law in doing so. The company has been roundly criticized for its involvement in several jailings.
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The State Department is seeking clarification from China about the status of Zhao Yan, a New York Times researcher who reportedly was arrested in Shanghai on charges of passing state secrets to foreigners.
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A Beijing court has upheld a ruling  that Yahoo China violates Chinese law by facilitating mass  copyright infringement through music downloads, the  International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)  said.
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Yahoo's announcement Thursday that it had created a new position called "Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer" is raising eyebrows, and some are speculating that it may have something to do with the criticism it received about its cooperation with the Chinese government
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A Chinese music site is suing Yahoo's China unit for allegedly violating its copyright, Chinese media reported Friday.
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Defense lawyers have asked the government to dismiss the most serious charges against a former Guantanamo Bay translator accused of spying, after learning that documents he is accused of trying to deliver to Syria are not classified.
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China is blocking access to the Web site Google News, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday, and accused the US-based company of being complicit by filtering its Chinese-language site.