Rebecca MacKinnon again posts commentary on new documents (originally posted by Duihua Foundation) showing that Yahoo employees knew they were dealing with political charges when they handed over personal information that landed Yahoo users Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning in jail. She also responds to comments from Roland Soong at ESWN:
I don’t think it is meaningless to push companies like Yahoo! to be more mindful of the human rights situations they will face before they decide whether or not to open a particular product or service in any given market. There is a reason Microsoft never introduced a localized Chinese Hotmail and why Google hasn’t introduced a local Chinese Gmail. Because they don’t want She Taos and Wang Xiaonings on their hands. Companies can make choices about how they engage in a market and what services are appropriate given the political situation.
Let me emphasize: this is not about foreigners changing China. Or it isn’t for me. This is about how companies interact with governments everywhere and how individual users lose out in the process. [Full text]
