Time To Boycott Yahoo?

According to the human rights group Reporters Without Borders, Yahoo has cooperated with Chinese authorities to arrest a dissident named Li Zhi who has been given an 8 year jail sentence.

Reporters Without Borders called on Yahoo ! to supply a list of all cyberdissidents it has provided data on, beginning with 81 people in China whose release the worldwide press freedom organization is currently campaigning for.

It said it had discovered that Yahoo! customer and cyberdissident Li Zhi had been given his eight-year prison sentence in December 2003 based on electronic records provided by Yahoo. “How many more cases are we going to find ?” it asked.

“We were sure the case of Shi Tao, who was jailed for 10 years last April on the basis of Yahoo-supplied data, was not the only one. Now we know Yahoo works regularly and efficiently with the Chinese police.

According to Reporters Without Borders, there are currently 42 internet dissidents and 32 journalists in prison in China for posting something on the internet critical of the government.

Let’s not forget that Yahoo gave the American government millions of records it wanted, allegedly to bolster the Child Online Protection Act, which was ruled probably unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2004.

Is it time to organize a boycott of Yahoo?

Cross-posted from Flogging the Simian

Peace

11 Comments

rumi on February 9, 2006 at 10:02 am

It’s time to boycott the internet. Hit ’em all where they care the most…the pockets.

rumi on February 9, 2006 at 10:11 am

To add to the previous comment, this isn’t a reflection on you soj. I’ve followed and admired your work from different links long before I landed in the pond. All the hard work in the world sometimes just isn’t enough.

Street Kid on February 9, 2006 at 11:08 am

I stopped using Yahoo! a long time ago.

blackspot on February 9, 2006 at 6:19 pm

When you govern a country (or anything else if that matters) you want to have the full control. The web, as the major distributor of information nowadays, is undermining the authorities of presidents, kings and dictator. Yahoo probalby get paid for that “service.”

Recently Google was attacked because of its refusal to give information to the agencies. No information means less power. Plus, nothing can be free in the era of consumerism…

Arcturus on February 9, 2006 at 9:06 pm

While I’ve no desire to defend Yahoo nor the repressive Chinese goverment, I’ve also no desire to help the Bush administration fight its ideological battles through the NED-funded Reporters without Borders (RSF). It’s particularly disgusting that they are trading on the deservedly very good name of Doctor’s Without Borders, a truly independent organization.

Reporters without Borders Keeps silence about journalist tortured in Guantánamo:

The silence kept by the «freedom-of-the-press» Reporters without border (RSF) organization about Sudanese journalist Sami al Hajj raises many questions on the impartiality of that association headed by Robert Menard. RSF, which is always willing to stigmatize- usually arbitrarily- those countries targeted by Washington such as Cuba, Venezuela and China, has fully ignored the torture suffered by Al Hajj, a journalist with Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV chain.

rumi on February 9, 2006 at 10:06 pm

A little more on that group

Government funds color press group’s objectivity
full article at link

But RSF, unlike the CPJ, is heavily funded by government grants, raising questions about its objectivity. And a closer examination of the battles RSF wages–and those it ignores–strongly suggests a political agenda colored by its choice of patrons. Unfortunately, the organization appears unwilling to address such concerns: RSF’s New York representative, Tala Dowlatshahi, terminated a telephone interview when asked if the organization had applied last year for any U.S. government grants other than one received from the National Endowment for Democracy.

Most notable, perhaps, is the group’s obvious political bias in its reporting on Haiti. RSF expressed its support for the Feb. 29, 2004, Franco-American overthrow of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the same time that it received 11% of its budget from the French government (¤397,604, or approximately $465,200 in 2003). According to Haiti-based journalist and documentary film-maker Kevin Pina, the organization selectively documented attacks on opposition radio stations while ignoring other attacks on journalists and broadcasters to create the impression of state-sponsored violence against Aristide’s opponents.
- Arcturus on February 10, 2006 at 12:39 am
  
  Yea, it’s all part of the hard work of spreading democracy.
  
  Lots of soldiers busy at work.
  - rumi on February 10, 2006 at 1:20 am
    
    …and all roads lead back to N VA, like this one, but it takes a detour through India, the SEC court and some favorite local book stores. Oh well, more useless trivia.

deano on February 10, 2006 at 6:32 pm

Glad someone diaried this.. I’ve been thinking about this issue.. what is the bluest, or greenest search engine. The question is if other search engines haven’t participated in anything related. Here’s a radio discussion on the topic from NPR which I heard: (Link).

I would be interested if anyone knew anything about a similiar investigation of services like myspace.com, which is now owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Then again, earlier in July News Corp announced the launch of Fox Interactive Media, a hub for Fox news, sport and entertainment in the US.

Myspace, News Corp says, could drive traffic to Fox Interactive Media.

And most importantly, Myspace has detailed logs of its users’ preferences, online behaviour and personal information.

That could help the company tailor what it does to the ever-more-discerning market which Mr Murdoch believes he has identified.

Now everyone can be friends with Big Brother.

Arcturus on February 11, 2006 at 12:00 pm

Knight-Ridder is reportedly trying to buy the SF based tribe.net, a ‘networky’ site similar to myspace & which draws heavily on the alternative Burning Man community as its base. These sites collect a huge amount of info on their users; the thought that it is in the hands of a Murdoch or bLack is unsettling.

Wonder who own livejournal?
- deano on February 12, 2006 at 3:12 pm
  
  Yeah, I mean on one hand.. there isn’t much to hide on the sites.. what music people listen to, etc. But the idea of being monitored may in itself stiffle dissent.
  
  I don’t know anything about Live Journal.

rumi on February 9, 2006 at 10:02 am

It’s time to boycott the internet. Hit ’em all where they care the most…the pockets.
- rumi on February 9, 2006 at 10:11 am
  
  To add to the previous comment, this isn’t a reflection on you soj. I’ve followed and admired your work from different links long before I landed in the pond. All the hard work in the world sometimes just isn’t enough.
Street Kid on February 9, 2006 at 11:08 am

I stopped using Yahoo! a long time ago.
blackspot on February 9, 2006 at 6:19 pm

When you govern a country (or anything else if that matters) you want to have the full control. The web, as the major distributor of information nowadays, is undermining the authorities of presidents, kings and dictator. Yahoo probalby get paid for that “service.”

Recently Google was attacked because of its refusal to give information to the agencies. No information means less power. Plus, nothing can be free in the era of consumerism…
Arcturus on February 9, 2006 at 9:06 pm

While I’ve no desire to defend Yahoo nor the repressive Chinese goverment, I’ve also no desire to help the Bush administration fight its ideological battles through the NED-funded Reporters without Borders (RSF). It’s particularly disgusting that they are trading on the deservedly very good name of Doctor’s Without Borders, a truly independent organization.

Reporters without Borders Keeps silence about journalist tortured in Guantánamo:

The silence kept by the «freedom-of-the-press» Reporters without border (RSF) organization about Sudanese journalist Sami al Hajj raises many questions on the impartiality of that association headed by Robert Menard. RSF, which is always willing to stigmatize- usually arbitrarily- those countries targeted by Washington such as Cuba, Venezuela and China, has fully ignored the torture suffered by Al Hajj, a journalist with Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV chain.
- rumi on February 9, 2006 at 10:06 pm
  
  A little more on that group
  
  Government funds color press group’s objectivity
  full article at link
  
  But RSF, unlike the CPJ, is heavily funded by government grants, raising questions about its objectivity. And a closer examination of the battles RSF wages–and those it ignores–strongly suggests a political agenda colored by its choice of patrons. Unfortunately, the organization appears unwilling to address such concerns: RSF’s New York representative, Tala Dowlatshahi, terminated a telephone interview when asked if the organization had applied last year for any U.S. government grants other than one received from the National Endowment for Democracy.
  
  Most notable, perhaps, is the group’s obvious political bias in its reporting on Haiti. RSF expressed its support for the Feb. 29, 2004, Franco-American overthrow of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the same time that it received 11% of its budget from the French government (¤397,604, or approximately $465,200 in 2003). According to Haiti-based journalist and documentary film-maker Kevin Pina, the organization selectively documented attacks on opposition radio stations while ignoring other attacks on journalists and broadcasters to create the impression of state-sponsored violence against Aristide’s opponents.
  - Arcturus on February 10, 2006 at 12:39 am
    
    Yea, it’s all part of the hard work of spreading democracy.
    
    Lots of soldiers busy at work.
    - rumi on February 10, 2006 at 1:20 am
      
      …and all roads lead back to N VA, like this one, but it takes a detour through India, the SEC court and some favorite local book stores. Oh well, more useless trivia.
deano on February 10, 2006 at 6:32 pm

Glad someone diaried this.. I’ve been thinking about this issue.. what is the bluest, or greenest search engine. The question is if other search engines haven’t participated in anything related. Here’s a radio discussion on the topic from NPR which I heard: (Link).

I would be interested if anyone knew anything about a similiar investigation of services like myspace.com, which is now owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Then again, earlier in July News Corp announced the launch of Fox Interactive Media, a hub for Fox news, sport and entertainment in the US.

Myspace, News Corp says, could drive traffic to Fox Interactive Media.

And most importantly, Myspace has detailed logs of its users’ preferences, online behaviour and personal information.

That could help the company tailor what it does to the ever-more-discerning market which Mr Murdoch believes he has identified.

Now everyone can be friends with Big Brother.
- Arcturus on February 11, 2006 at 12:00 pm
  
  Knight-Ridder is reportedly trying to buy the SF based tribe.net, a ‘networky’ site similar to myspace & which draws heavily on the alternative Burning Man community as its base. These sites collect a huge amount of info on their users; the thought that it is in the hands of a Murdoch or bLack is unsettling.
  
  Wonder who own livejournal?
  - deano on February 12, 2006 at 3:12 pm
    
    Yeah, I mean on one hand.. there isn’t much to hide on the sites.. what music people listen to, etc. But the idea of being monitored may in itself stiffle dissent.
    
    I don’t know anything about Live Journal.

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