Monday, April 03, 2006
Jailed Chinese journalist's family mulls filing court action against Yahoo
HONG KONG (AFX) - Internet firm Yahoo may face legal action for allegedly providing information which allowed a Chinese journalist to be jailed for 10 years for leaking state secrets, his family said.
Zhang Yu, representing the family of Shi Tao, said they were considering taking Yahoo Hong Kong Holdings to court either here or in the United States.
'We believe what (Yahoo) did was illegal so we are considering taking Yahoo to court,' Zhang told reporters, adding that Yahoo had refused to discuss the matter with him.
Shi was sentenced in April last year after posting on the Internet a government order barring Chinese media from marking the 15th anniversary of the brutal Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy activists.
Yahoo allegedly provided information that proved Shi had emailed the order from his office computer at the Contemporary Business News.
Pro-democracy legislator and lawyer Albert Ho showed journalists a copy of the verdict issued by a court in the central Chinese province of Hunan.
The document said: 'Yahoo Hong Kong Holdings provided materials that confirmed the user's information.' It also gave the IP (Internet Protocol) address of Shi's computer and his work phone number and address.
Ho said a formal complaint has been made to Hong Kong's Office of the Privacy Commission for Personal Data, a privacy watchdog, which told them it will investigate the case.
Shi has insisted he is innocent, arguing that the government order was not a state secret.
source:http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2006/03/31/afx2636580.html
Zhang Yu, representing the family of Shi Tao, said they were considering taking Yahoo Hong Kong Holdings to court either here or in the United States.
'We believe what (Yahoo) did was illegal so we are considering taking Yahoo to court,' Zhang told reporters, adding that Yahoo had refused to discuss the matter with him.
Shi was sentenced in April last year after posting on the Internet a government order barring Chinese media from marking the 15th anniversary of the brutal Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy activists.
Yahoo allegedly provided information that proved Shi had emailed the order from his office computer at the Contemporary Business News.
Pro-democracy legislator and lawyer Albert Ho showed journalists a copy of the verdict issued by a court in the central Chinese province of Hunan.
The document said: 'Yahoo Hong Kong Holdings provided materials that confirmed the user's information.' It also gave the IP (Internet Protocol) address of Shi's computer and his work phone number and address.
Ho said a formal complaint has been made to Hong Kong's Office of the Privacy Commission for Personal Data, a privacy watchdog, which told them it will investigate the case.
Shi has insisted he is innocent, arguing that the government order was not a state secret.
source:http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2006/03/31/afx2636580.html
# posted by dark master : 4/03/2006 10:46:00 AM
