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Yahoo faces lawsuit for providing personal records to China |
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Written by Richard Dukes
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Saturday, 21 April 2007 |
In a first of its kind lawsuit, a Chinese man has sued Yahoo and its affiliates in China for providing information to the Chinese government, which has resulted in his jail sentence.
Wang Xiaoning is currently serving a 10-year jail sentence for "incitement to subvert state power". Yahoo and its affiliate companies including Alibaba.com and its Hong Kong subsidiary have been named as defendants.
Xiaoning was arrested last year advocating democracy and the tart of a multi-party system in China, which has a communist government. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California by the World Organization for Human Rights USA on behalf of Wang’s wife.
The suit alleges that Yahoo and its affiliates have benefited financially by agreeing to work with the government authorities in the matter. The lawsuit was filed by Yu Ling, who is the wife of Wang Xiaoning. Yahoo is being charged under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act, which prevents US companies from aiding in human rights abuses overseas.
Ling apparently has evidence that the Chinese authorities requested and obtained records of her husband's activities on the Internet. Ling alleges that the jail authorities have tortured her husband where he is held.
"While in custody, Plaintiffs were subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including arbitrary, prolonged and indefinite detention, for expressing their free speech rights and for using the Internet to communicate about democracy and human rights matters", said the court filings.
Meanwhile Yahoo has released a statement saying that they had no option but to agree with the Chinese authorities or face the risk of penalties.
"The concerns raised about the Chinese government compelling companies to follow Chinese law and disclose user information are not new. Companies doing business in China must comply with Chinese law or its local employees could be faced with civil and criminal penalties", Yahoo said.
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