In 2002, Wang Xiaoning was illogically taken in custody by the Chinese Police. He was sentenced for 10 years in prison for writings; he published using his Yahoo! Email account.In 2004, a Chinese journalist, Shi Tao, was offended and arrested for emailing a report of the Chinese regime directives to a U.S.-based pro-democracy website.
In his email, he summarized a government order directing media associations in China to downplay the forthcoming centenary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao were penalized for practicing their freedom of speech as Yahoo! Inc.’s Chinese ancillary gave their personal information to the Chinese regime. By giving user’s personal information to the government, Yahoo! had violated many human rights.
In 2006, Yahoo! Executives had confirmed before the U.S. Congress that they were unaware of the charge sheet filed against Shi Tao when they have given his identifying information to the Chinese government. In April 2007, Human Rights USA filed an innovative business liability lawsuit against Yahoo! Inc. under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA), 106 Stat. 73 (1992) and the Alien Tort Claims Act (1789). Later, Yahoo! filed a proposal to dismiss the lawsuit and claimed that the company was strained to give the user information to the Chinese officials, and its communication with Chinese officials was confidential actions not subject to challenge in U.S. courts.
When the organization takes proceedings against Yahoo!, new proof came into the picture that in spite of knowing the charges against Shi Tao, Yahoo! revealed his identity to the government. In November 2007 before the bi-partisan House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Yahoo! was called to testify about its action in China. According to the Committee Representative Tom Lantos, Yahoo!’s failure to correct the testimony, which was an intolerably careless behavior at the best and intentionally misleading behavior at the worst.
Committee Representative Tom Lantos then told Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan to plead forgiveness from the families of the prisoners. Both men turned and bowed to the women, and publicly asked for forgiveness. After one week, the lawsuit was settled by the Yahoo! and the families. However, Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao remain in prison.
This decision made clear to the multi-billion dollar telecommunications and expertise industry that assisting the illegitimate imprisonment of internet users is not a business as usual and has a high cost.
Human Rights USA is always ready to support Internet Corporations in their efforts to conform their company’s practices to universal human rights rules.