Hong Kong: Following up on Shi Tao's Case
The case of Yahoo's cooperation with Chinese authorities over the jailing of Chinese journalist Shi Tao is far from over.
In a letter titled "Yahoo should apologise over the jailing of Shi Tao" published in today's U.S. edition of Financial Times, Hong Kong legislator Emily Lau wrote that not only should Yahoo "apologise to Mr Shi, compensate his family and cease co-operation with China's censors", Ms. Lau has also raised the issue in the Legislative Council's Information Technology and Broadcasting Panel meeting on November 1st, in which, Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) has been invited to invited to explain its role in Shi Tao's case as well as its policy on personal information protection. Specifically:
However, Yahoo has no plans to attend the meeting. Instead, it has sent in the following written response on 18 October 2005:
This is a very different story than what the world first learned:
Meanwhile, Chatter Garden reports a recent discussion on the Yahoo's case at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong.
In a letter titled "Yahoo should apologise over the jailing of Shi Tao" published in today's U.S. edition of Financial Times, Hong Kong legislator Emily Lau wrote that not only should Yahoo "apologise to Mr Shi, compensate his family and cease co-operation with China's censors", Ms. Lau has also raised the issue in the Legislative Council's Information Technology and Broadcasting Panel meeting on November 1st, in which, Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) has been invited to invited to explain its role in Shi Tao's case as well as its policy on personal information protection. Specifically:
"What information had been furnished and under what circumstances had such information been furnished? If account holder information had been provided to the Mainland authorities, whether and how far had Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd, a data user as defined in the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486), taken into account the requirements of that Ordinance before providing the relevant information to the Mainland authorities?"
However, Yahoo has no plans to attend the meeting. Instead, it has sent in the following written response on 18 October 2005:
"The Chinese authorities have never contacted Yahoo! Hong Kong to request any of its user information. Yahoo! Hong Kong and Yahoo! China are managed and operated separately and independently of one another. As such, Yahoo! Hong Kong and Yahoo! China have never exchanged or revealed respective user information to one another."
This is a very different story than what the world first learned:
"Reporters Without Borders said court papers showed that Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. gave Chinese investigators information that helped them trace a personal Yahoo e-mail allegedly containing state secrets to Tao's computer."
Meanwhile, Chatter Garden reports a recent discussion on the Yahoo's case at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong.
