Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Yahoo! chiefs blasted by congress


The House of Representatives foreign affairs committee has severely criticised Yahoo! for giving the Chinese government information which led to the arrest of journalist Shi Tao.

Furthermore, Yahoo! then went on to lie to congress about its actions during the affair, the committee said. Yahoo! chief executive Jerry Yang and general counsel Michael Callahan were both berated by the chairman of the committee, California Democrat Representative Tom Lantos.

He criticised Yahoo! for not making more efforts to aid the family of Shi Tao, who has been sentenced to ten years in prison for forwarding information about China's ban on reporting the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Rep Lantos said: "Why is it such a complicated issue to help a family whose breadwinner is in prison because of Yahoo's cooperation?

"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies." The two executives were then made to apologise to Shi Tao's mother, who was present at the hearing.

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