Yahoo! provides information against Chinese journalist

Chinese journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he sent an the text of an email message from Chinese authorities to foreign websites, according to the organization, Reporters without Borders. The message warned journalists that Chinese authorities were fearful of social destablization during the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Chinese authorities claimed the document was top secret, which the reporter disputed.

Reporters without Borders contends that Yahoo! supplied Shi Tao's IP address and other materials to Chinese authorities.

Reporters Without Borders added : “Information supplied by Yahoo ! led to the conviction of a good journalist who has paid dearly for trying to get the news out. It is one thing to turn a blind eye to the Chinese government’s abuses and it is quite another thing to collaborate.”

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For years Yahoo ! has allowed the Chinese version of its search engine to be censored. In 2002, Yahoo ! voluntarily signed the "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the China Internet Industry", agreeing to abide by PRC censorship regulations. Searches deemed sensitive by the Chinese authorities such as “Taiwan independence” in Chinese into the Yahoo ! China search engine, retrieve only a limited and approved set of results.