...move over, Google.. I gotta gargle..

....Here comes Yahoo.

Harkens me back to an old joke, in which three nuns confess to a priest that they had entertained a male guest the night before...

Pretty soon, one nun goes to a font to wash her eyes in holy water...

Next, another nun joins her to wash her hands with holy water...

Then, the third nun comes in and says, "Move over--I gotta gargle."

Much the same with this story:

BEIJING (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. provided evidence to Chinese authorities that led to the imprisonment of an Internet writer, lawyers and activists said on Thursday, the second such case involving the U.S. Internet giant.

The latest storm over Western Internet companies in China comes just weeks after Web search giant Google Inc. came under fire for saying it would block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, bowing to conditions set by Beijing.

Writer and veteran activist Liu Xiaobo said Yahoo had co-operated with Chinese police in a case that led to the 2003 arrest of Li Zhi, who was charged with subverting state power and sentenced to eight years in prison after trying to join the dissident China Democracy Party.

Yahoo gave public security agents details of Li's registration as a Yahoo user, Liu said in an article posted on U.S.-based Chinese-language news portal Boxun, citing a defense statement from Li's lawyers.

A spokeswoman for Yahoo said the company was looking into the matter.

"As in most jurisdictions, governments are not required to inform service providers why they are seeking certain information and typically do not do so," spokeswoman Mary Osako said.

"We would not know whether a demand for information focused on murder, kidnapping or another crime," she said by phone from California, adding Yahoo thought the Internet was a positive force in China.

But media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said the argument that Yahoo simply responds to requests from authorities did not hold water.

"Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest political dissidents and journalists, not just ordinary criminals," it said in a statement.

PROFITS AND PRINCIPLES

The group, along with the Committee to Protect Journalists, also called on Yahoo to disclose information on all Internet journalists and writers whose identities it has revealed to Chinese authorities.

The case is the latest in a string of examples that highlight the friction between profits and principles for Internet companies doing business in China, the world's number-two Internet market.

In September, Yahoo was accused of helping Chinese authorities identify Shi Tao, who was sentenced last April to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets abroad.

...I would say that, at the very least, a discussion needs to take place regarding American-based business concerns being party to human rights violations in other countries...and that serious thought be given toward divestiture among our own citizenry of same.

I don't want to leave blogger. But don't be surprised if within coming weeks I do.


(Filed under world affairs)