The three major Western internet providers in China (Google, MSN, and Yahoo!) have
all been complicit with the Chinese government in helping censor the web searches of Chinese citizens. That alone is enough to boycott any of them. But Yahoo! has recently distinguished itself out as the most oppressive American Internet Corporation doing business in China.
Please see the link here for the full story from
Reporters Without Borders.
The abbreviated version is as follows: An anonymous Chinese citizen sent out information about how the Chinese government intended to censor information about the 15-year anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square. This person used a Yahoo! e-mail address to do it. The Chinese Secret Police asked Yahoo! to turn over the sender’s identity. Yahoo! claims they did not know the reason why the Chinese government was requesting, and complied with the Chinese Secret Police without argument. They identified Shi Tau, a reporter with The Contemporary Business News in Hunan, who is now serving 10 years in jail.
Jerry Yang, the multi-millionaire who sits at Yahoo!’s helm, told reporters that he had no choice in the matter. He alluded to the safety of his employees in China.
BooYahoo! believes that Yahoo!'s decisions are motivated by a single factor: profit. So it is clear that profits are the only way to provide them with feedback. Yahoo! chose to do business with the dragon, and now the Dragon's profits have apparently enslaved Yahoo!
Every human has certain inalienable rights that are not to be usurped by mere laws of mere governments. Anyone who says the law of the land is the bottom line is thinking like cattle. Yahoo!'s policy of abiding by the laws of whatever country wherein they do business is not a justification to dismantle freedom of speech.
Some people believe that a Western Internet company who is setting up shop in China should be willing to comply with human rights abuses there in order to create a glimmer of hope for the future of freedom and the availability of ideas. This is a dangerous and conveniently profitable deception. In the name of profits, Yahoo! is aiding Chinese oppression and eroding human rights
globally. If the outermost tentacle of the internet's reach is poisoned, it must be amputated in order to protect the health of the entire organism. Yahoo! has become poisoned.
If the world of ideas were subject to genetics, freedom of speech would be a recessive gene, while corruption and greed would be dominant. Freedom of speech must be fought for in order to be retained.
It’s time for netizens to exercise their power. It’s time to call for Yahoo! to stop complying with any governmental laws when those laws conflict with basic human rights. By impacting Yahoo!'s profits, we hope to change this policy, and encourage like companies to follow suit.
If Yahoo amends their policy of abiding by oppressive laws, our efforts to boycott them will end.
