Internet firm Yahoo provided Chinese authorities with information used to jail one of its users for eight years, an activist group said yesterday -- the second time Yahoo has been accused of helping jail a Chinese user.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo's Hong Kong unit provided information about Li Zhi (李志), a man from southwestern China who was sentenced to prison in 2003 for subversion after posting comments online criticizing official corruption.
Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for California-based Yahoo, said the company didn't know of the case and couldn't comment on whether the group's account was accurate.
However, Osako said that Yahoo Hong Kong would not have had access to Li's Chinese account -- and that it never releases information to the Chinese government.
She said the company was investigating whether Yahoo China, run by a partner company, released the data.
Activists criticized Yahoo last year after it was disclosed that the company provided information that Chinese authorities used to convict and jail reporter Shi Tao (
"Now we know Yahoo works regularly and efficiently with the Chinese police," a Reporters Without Borders statement said.
It urged Internet companies to use US-based servers in "repressive countries" so governments must comply with US law when getting information on users.
Osako said that when the company receives government subpoenas, it isn't usually told how information will be used.
Only legally required information is turned over, she said.
"The choice in China and other countries is not whether to comply with law enforcement demands for information," Osako said. "Rather, the choice is whether to remain in the country."
Yahoo was "distressed" when it learned of the facts surrounding the Shi Tao case, she said.
In that case, Chinese authorities demanded information from Yahoo's China unit, which complied with Chinese law, Osako said.
She said earlier accounts that the information was supplied to Chinese authorities by Yahoo's Hong Kong arm were incorrect.
Google and Microsoft have also been criticized for enforcing Chinese censorship rules. Google's China-based service limits online searches for sensitive topics, and Microsoft shut down a user's Web log upon official Chinese demand.
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