Comments on: Do You Yahoo? – The Chinese Secret Police Evidently Do

By: Erik.Axelson

Erik.Axelson — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 02:17:26 +0000

Dear Mr. Simon,

Thank you for highlighting this outrageous conduct by Yahoo.

I roamed all over Yahoo’s sites looking for a “Contact Us” connection and finally made use of their survey of your browser experience feature to send this comment ( heavily taken from your post) to Yahoo:

I have wandered around searching for a contact site to tell you that I will never use Yahoo again. Your complicity with the Communist Chinese government in hunting down dissidents is just too reprehensible. Here is the relvant information:

According to Reporters Without Borders, Yahoo has been aiding the Chinese government in revealing the identities of dissidents!

The text of the verdict in the case of journalist Shi Tao – sentenced in April to 10 years in prison for “divulging state secrets abroad” – shows that Yahoo ! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. provided China’s state security authorities with details that helped to identify and convict him, Reporters Without Borders said today.

“We already knew that Yahoo ! collaborates enthusiastically with the Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese police informant as well,” the press freedom organisation said.

“Yahoo ! obviously complied with requests from the Chinese authorities to furnish information regarding an IP address that linked Shi Tao to materials posted online, and the company will yet again simply state that they just conform to the laws of the countries in which they operate,” the organisation said. “But does the fact that this corporation operates under Chinese law free it from all ethical considerations ? How far will it go to please Beijing ?”

Reporters Without Borders added : “Information supplied by Yahoo ! led to the conviction of a good journalist who has paid dearly for trying to get the news out. It is one thing to turn a blind eye to the Chinese government’s abuses and it is quite another thing to collaborate.”

Translated into English by the Dui Hua Foundation (which works to document the cases of Chinese political prisoners), the verdict reveals that Yahoo ! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. provided the Chinese investigating organs with detailed information that apparently enabled them to link Shi’s personal e-mail account (huoyan-1989@yahoo.com.cn) and the specific message containing information treated as a “state secret” to the IP address of his computer.

This is incredible!

I do not wish to associate in any way, shape or form with your policy of collaborating with the Butchers of Tienamen Square.

I will find other service providers for search engines and other web services. Please cancel my Yahoo e-mail account!!

Erik Peter Axelson

125 Cabrini Blvd

New York NY 10033

I echo one of the earlier comments — let’s start organizing to let these corporate tycoons know that they have crossed a line here.

Thank you,

EPA

By: JohnathanRGalt

JohnathanRGalt — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 20:00:26 +0000

"Do You Yahoo? Al-Qaida Does!" Jeremy Reynalds - 9/7/2005 __________________________ It's the reverse situation with Yahoo and Al-Qaeda. Yahoo is protecting the identities of the terrorists behind the hundreds of Islamist groups and Yahoo hosted jehadi websites. Quoting myself (from the last paragraph of Mr. Reynalds article):

As Internet terror researcher Johnathan R. Galt commented in an e-mail written in early 2004, "Global Islamic Media (was) "regarded by the world's terrorism experts and the news media as the ?official voice of al-Qaeda.' The next attacks were discussed daily on Yahoo (several months in advance). Global Islamic Media published in Dec. 8 2003 a more explicit threat, which hinted at the possibility of an attack against Spain outside of Iraq. After the attacks occur, they are celebrated at this Yahoo group."

By: David_M

David_M — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 15:57:02 +0000

The situation today mirrors that at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, the trusts were essentially confined within America, yet they were oprating in a fashion that was contrary to the long-term interest of the country. Now, the situation is, if anything, more dire. As multinational, nominally U.S.-based corporations receive an increasing share of their revenue from overseas, their interest and the interest of the U.S. are diverging. I believe free trade has the power to elevate other countries economically and socially, making them more like us. However, we are fools if we think it does not also have the capacity to make us more like them.

By: PlutosDad

PlutosDad — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 13:26:53 +0000

When we gave China permanent normal trade relations status, it was supposedly so WE could influence THEM to a better way of life, better way of running their country as well as their businesses. It wasn’t so they could influence US, it (supposedly) wasn’t just to make money.

I am a die hard free trade republican, but we have to draw the line somewhere. You don’t lie down with the devil just to make an extra buck.

By: zplay

zplay — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:35:39 +0000

I use Yahoo as my home page even though I’ve log been disgusted with the bias I see in its selective head-lining process and the news feeds it uses (and doesn’t use!) Google is equally lopsided. Can anyone recommend a good portal with news feeds that won’t tick me off?

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:45:18 +0000

There are other serious allegations regarding Yahoo:

ìYahoo! is hosting thousands of fraudulent websites that have domain names containing the words “bank”, “PayPal” or “eBay”, according to a leading anti-spam group Spamhaus.

Spamhaus claims Yahoo! is hosting almost 5,000 domain names using these words, many of which are linked to phishing scams.

Richard Cox, CIO at Spamhaus, said: “They are hosted on Yahoo! I just took three hot words, but there are dozens of others including misspellings. They are mostly phishing websites,w hich shows that the situation is out of control.”

Spamhaus, a non-profit organisation, currently has around 20 entries relating to Yahoo! on its block list SBL.î

http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/thespamreport/0,39025001,39152006,00.htm

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:42:37 +0000

ìThis is why government must curtail their excesses.î

Whoops, I should add that we as individual citizens and customers of these capitalists also have a right to take them to task. There is nothing stopping us from boycotting their products and providing them with bad publicity.

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:38:46 +0000

Irving Kristol is right to claim that capitalism deserves only two cheers and not three. Capitalists will often provide the rope that will be used to hang them. Am I turning into a radical Marxist? No, I have long been aware that the capitalist class will sell us down the river if given half a chance. This is why government must curtail their excesses. I am not a utopian, but someone who clearly comprehends that even the best of people are flawed creatures. The at least metaphorical reality of Original Sin is alive and well on planet Earth.

By: ploof

ploof — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 07:21:34 +0000

“10 years in prison”

Right. That’s code for “resting comfortably in a shallow unmarked grave out in the Gobi somewhere.”

By: dwayne

dwayne — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 05:26:19 +0000

There needs to be a grass roots campaign to pressure these companies into giving up these practices. We should use some of the tactics CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) uses and use those tactics to our advantage. Mr. Simon, would it be possible for you to list email, snail-mail addresses, and even fax telephone numbers to these businesses? If you could do that then we could make it very loud and clear to these businesses that we oppose their practices.