Chinese journalist to file US suit against Yahoo

Found on Infoworld on Thursday, 21 September 2006
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A Chinese journalist jailed in part due to e-mail evidence provided by a Yahoo subsidiary plans to file a lawsuit in the U.S. against the Internet company within the next few months.

A U.S. civil suit against Yahoo on behalf of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist convicted of "divulging state secrets" by Beijing in part due to an e-mail Yahoo provided to Chinese authorities, will likely be filed in either New York or California, Ho said. Tao's e-mail, sent from a Yahoo account in April, 2004 to a pro-China democracy Web site in New York, contained a Beijing order for officials to be on guard for unrest and dissident activity ahead of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The new lawsuit would come just months after Ho filed a complaint to Hong Kong authorities against Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) on behalf of Tao. It also comes at a time when international pressure is increasing on Internet companies to handle the private data of their users more carefully, particularly with respect to human rights.

Good luck to him; let's hope suits like this one show the big companies that they have to be careful with private data and can't hand them out to any government without really serious reasons.