Protecting Yahoo!?

Posted on March 15, 2006 in Blogging Crosstalk Human Rights

Some twenty to thirty years ago, when the name Amnesty International was mentioned, hats went off and people listened. Of course, that was in the days when the big human rights ticket was happenings in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Then those countries began to reform, mostly.

Activists put the pressure on corporations which supported South African apartheid. And the institution of racial segregation was abolished and Nelson Mandela — always the country’s heart — became its true leader. Amnesty had a part in that.

Following the second Gulf War, Amnesty was treated by the United States pretty much as it had been treated by the Soviet Union in the Iron Curtain days. It has become unfashionable to quote Amnesty because Amnesty criticizes us and our allies.

This came home to me when another blogger censored a comment of mine which pointed out that Yahoo! had worked with the Chinese government to imprison dissidents. I suggested another source of information. When I came back, I found my comment censored. Though I cannot conclude with certainty why this happened, I suspect the same old thing: People don’t like to hear that they directly or indirectly support human rights violations here or abroad.

I take Amnesty reports very seriously. If you harm someone in China using money or tools that I have helped here, I have helped. For this reason, I avoid using Yahoo! as a search engine and will not use their tools. It matches my action during the South Africa boycott: if a company is soft on human rights violations, they shall not have my support.

Note here that I have not identified the person. The only one who can reveal the identity is that blogger. You did not learn who it was from me and I will not tell.

From Amnesty:

Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence for sending an email to the U.S. Yahoo! helped put him there. They provided information to the Chinese Government, which led to his unjust imprisonment. Yahoo! needs to hear from people like you and me in droves. Corporations like Yahoo! are very sensitive to public outcry. We must tell Yahoo! that we won’t stand for violating privacy and ask them to use their influence to secure Shi Tao’s release.