Yahoo is guilty of “an act of corporate irresponsibility,” said Morton Sklar, executive director of the World Organization for Human Rights. Yahoo is being sued for turning over information to the Chinese government about the identity of dissidents who had posted writings on the Internet espousing democracy, the Washington Post reported. The Chinese activists reportedly have been arrested and tortured as a result. Yahoo officials said they had to comply with Chinese law in order to do business there.
Human rights advocates are attempting to turn the suit into a test case in their efforts to hold American companies accountable for human rights violations in other countries. Should American companies doing business in other countries comply with their laws, even if they go against the core values of our country?
Posted by Patrice Hein
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26 Comments
I hope something happens to Yahoo.
I’m considering closing all of my yahoo accounts. The only thing that is stopping me is that my autism group is there, and I cannot live without that group. Those people have become my family. They were the only people there who helped me with my son when nobody else would.
So I am torn.
“Should American companies doing business in other countries comply with their laws, even if they go against the core values of our country?”
Isn’t our government doing that right now? We have “secret” prisons in foreign countries where the prisoners can be tortured by that country and we can turn a blind eye to it. Great example we set.
But isn’t that the republican way? Make money and be damned who gets run over on the road to profits. So I doubt the neo-cons will find anything wrong with Yahoo, or any other business for that matter.
Pmom, switch to google and set up the group there.
Yahoo is the scum of the internet. I would never do business with them and shutdown them as my home page long ago. Not only for what they did to the Chinese but they also shut down their news discussion board over here too. They do not support freedom or democracy or anything American.
Well, Kev, unless it’s pedophilia.
PM
I’m sure as parents of handicapped children — you and your group are resourceful enough to find another venue —-
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8FBCF686&show_article=1
Of course Google is censoring its search results to comply with the Chinese government.
J M hate to disappoint you but this is one Republican conservative who won’t be using yahoo in the future. What they did is despicable and inhumane.
Hate to disappoint you. To your other point I would say without the proof that this is happening you really shouldn’t publish it as fact. We do have political prisoners. Those who think we don’t would be naive. We are in a war in a changing world. The enemy isn’t clearly defined, they don’t wear a uniform so you can pick them out of a crowd and they don’t declare their intentions in advance of their cowardly acts.
I wish we could go back to simpler times but I fear this won’t happen anytime soon.
Censoring search results and turning over info are two totally different things.
“Should American companies doing business in other countries comply with their laws, even if they go against the core values of our country?”
This is a trick question, isn’t?American Companies moving their business to other countries is already going against the core values of our country.These companies are traitors, if they fall flat on their faces then too bad, that is the price of turning your backs against your own people.
” M hate to disappoint you but this is one Republican conservative who won’t be using yahoo in the future. What they did is despicable and inhumane.”
I always thought you Republicans were against free speech and against democracy. Aren’t you guys China’s best buds?? Weren’t you trying to ban flag burning last year? Most Republicans only favour free speech when it is speech they agree with.
“American Companies moving their business to other countries is already going against the core values of our country.These companies are traitors, if they fall flat on their faces then too bad, that is the price of turning your backs against your own people.”
I so agree! I don’t mind if they do business with other countries so long as those countries are democratic and represent American values. The Republicans however love dictatorships unless the dictatorships are people like Castro. They don’t like democracy unless the election produces results that the conservatives like. Note how they refuse to deal with the elected government of Palestine.
Capital is a coward.
No better example of this can be found.
Remember when Walmart used to say how they only buy American when available? Why can’t someone open another store like that?
You can get around the Google censor very easily and most already know how to do it. Just deliberately misspell the search word and it gives you the “did you mean” page. Trying Googling Garge W Bush.
Turning over names is another story all together. No more Yahoo! for me.
ksgrm,Never said yahoo was okay. Never even implied it.
As for the second point; read the papers.
Yahoo used to be my home page till they did that. Now cnn.com is.
J M I make it a habit to never take at face value anything I read in the paper and this has served me well because in the last few years many stories were proven to be untrue including on about prisons set up by the US in Europe.
Without proof I don’t believe a word until I see proof in several different sources.
Like Foley being a Democrat.
Bob I told you that was just wishful thinking on my part. I did reluctantly claim him. Seriously if you research the European prisons there is a wealth of info out there that contradicts what we were fed by the mainstream media here.
“Reached by telephone Monday, Priest would not discuss the allegations in her article beyond her original report.
CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano would not confirm or deny any allegations about the Polish facility. He maintained the rendition program was legal and conducted “with great care.”
“The agency’s terrorist interrogation program has been conducted lawfully, with great care and close review, producing vital information that has helped disrupt plots and save lives,” Gimigliano said Monday. “That is also true of renditions, another key, lawful tool in the fight against terror.”
“The United States does not conduct or condone torture, nor does it transfer anyone to other countries for the purpose of torture,” he added.”
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Sovietera_compound_in_Poland_was_site_0307.html
There are conflicting accounts out there. Be open minded enough to look at them.
If your going to use a source, include the other comments that tend to neutralize:
“US intelligence officials confirmed that the CIA had used the compound at Stare Kiejkuty in the past. Speaking generally about the agency’s program, a former senior official said the CIA had never conducted unlawful interrogations.
“We never tortured anyone,” one former senior intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. “We sent them to countries that did torture, but not on this scale.””
I have always had an open mind. I tend to disregard cherry picking and tin hat sites. Raw story has an excellent track record. So if you use them, report all the facts.
Wouldn’t we expect companies based in other countries to cooperate in the apprehension of alledged criminals? One man’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist.
Maybe yahoo use the rationale made famous by bush, and figured the worst that could happen to the writers were a few rounds of “alternative interrogation”, by the Chineese. One man’s “alternative interrogation” is another man’s alternative interrogation!
I would not be surprised to learn the true reason that Yahoo cut out their discussion links, wasn’t to appease this administration. The reason they are giving is that a few posters were able to dominate the blog. Hard to believe considering the number of users, and the always dominant opinions were the ones opposing Bush and his corrupt administration. Be nice if some investigative journalist could get to the bottom of this.
There is no doubt in my mind that the people behind Yahoo and big Bush backers. That is why they shut down the discussion boards.
Was it really an American company doing business in China though? I thought it was their Chinese subsidiary, which makes it a Chinese company separate and apart from the US entity.