With corporate actions somewhat contrary to Google’s “do no
evil” ethic, is Yahoo! – citing the Jerry Yang era Shi Tao debacle – a bona
fide evil internet company?
By: Ringo Bones
It was during the Jerry Yang era Shi Tao debacle that many
saw Yahoo! - as an internet company that seem to easily voluntary provide their
clients’ private data to despotic regimes at the expense of their clients’
opportunity for a due process – as an internet company / search engine / e-mail
provider that is the polar opposite to Google and their “do no evil” ethic.
Given that the internet has been a force of good to those who seek a peaceful
and bloodless means of inciting a political change in despotic regions of the
world, does Yahoo’s recent actions during the past 10 years of easily providing
private data of their clients to despotic regime already tarnished their
reputation as a reputable internet company?
Back in 2002, Yahoo! inexplicably seems to readily provide
the Beijing government with pertinent private data that eventually lead to the
conviction of one of their clients – a Mainland Chinese political activist by
the name of Wang Xiaoning. This lead to the eventual conviction of the
pro-democracy activist back in 2003 resulting from somewhat less than fair
court proceedings. Wang Xiaoning has just been recently released by the Beijing
government during the end of August 2012 after serving a ten-year prison
sentence.
In the course of his political activism before his
decade-long incarceration, Wang Xiaoning had used his Yahoo Mail account to
distribute pro-democracy material to other activist elsewhere in Mainland
China. Even though Yahoo! has since apologized to Wang Xiaoning’s family, the
damage has already done and Yahoo! – for all intents and purposes – is now seen
by “internet hacktivists” as Google’s evil brother whose day-to-day corporate
running seem oblivious to the concept of corporate social responsibility, let
alone a private individual’s civil liberties. Which only makes me wonder if
Yahoo! had already bought a really good reputational risk insurance policy
before the company set up shop?
Bones Eye Tea [Yahoo, Wang Xiaoning Case]
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