November 06, 2007
Reporters Group Weighs In On Yahoo Hearing
Tuesday's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Yahoo's dealings in China was "a great opportunity" for the company to set the record straight on its practices in that country, Reporters Without Borders spokeswoman Lucie Morillon told Tech Daily Dose when the event ended.
"Although Yahoo executives apologized to the relatives of the cyber-dissidents they helped send to jail, the company didn't display any transparency on its actions and kept using the same arguments over again, that they have to obey the local laws and don't have control of their operations in China," she said.
The hearing highlighted the need for H.R. 275, a bill known as the Global Online Freedom Act, "to be passed as soon as possible to protect American IT companies from collaborating with repressive regimes," Morillon said. She testified in February 2006 about the controversial topic.
Read more about the hearing in Technology Daily's PM Edition.
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Rep. Woolsey Puts Her 'HR Hat' On
During the House Foreign Affairs Committee's hearing on Yahoo's business stake in China on Tuesday, Rep. Lynn Woolsey said she had to put her "HR hat on." Before coming to Washington, the California Democrat was the human resources manager for a telecommunications firm.
"It is hard to hold onto your culture as an organization when you grow as fast as you're growing," she told Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan. "As part of that culture, are you paying attention to the difference between making money and doing the right thing? That can go out the window so quickly," she warned.
The executives were grilled during a morning hearing that focused on the firm's connection to the Chinese government's imprisonment of a journalist who spoke out against it on his Yahoo e-mail account. Read more in Technology Daily's PM Edition.
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Special Guests At Yahoo Hearing
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos indicated that two special guests were present at Tuesday's hearing on Yahoo's involvement in the Chinese government's suppression of Internet freedom.
Sitting in the front row was Gao Qinsheng, the mother of journalist Shi Tao, who is serving a 10-year jail sentence -- in part because of information provided about him by Yahoo to Chinese law enforcement.
Yu Lin, the wife of Internet writer Wang Xiaoning, was also present. Wang was arrested in 2002 for using a Yahoo Groups account to advocate for open elections, a multi-party system and separation of powers in the Chinese government.
Both women have worked to bring to light Yahoo's activities in China and are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against Yahoo in San Francisco, according to a Lantos spokeswoman. Read more in Technology Daily's PM Edition.
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Yahoo Hearing Starts Late ... For Good Reason
Tuesday's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Yahoo's involvement in the imprisonment of a Chinese journalist got off to a late start because Chairman Tom Lantos had to take an important call.
When the California Democrat, who prides himself on his timeliness, settled into his high-backed chair, he explained that the delay was due to a "lengthy conversation" with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.
Lantos apologized to his witnesses, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan, noting: "I thought it was important to continue that conversation." Read about the hearing in Technology Daily's PM Edition.
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