Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Mr. 198964


A 37-year-old married reporter behind the numeric pseudonym "198964" learned, he shouldn't have assumed that Yahoo defends press freedom. When Chinese security agents asked executives at Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) to identify the man, they did so. Police grabbed him on a street, searched his house and seized his computer and other belongings, according to documents filed in his defense. Mr. "198964," whose real name is Shi Tao, is serving a 10-year jail sentence for "divulging state secrets abroad." Bloggers, human rights groups and journalism organizations, including PEN and Reporters Without Borders, condemned the action. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang brushed off responsibility. At an Internet conference Sept. 10 in Hangzhou, China, Yang said Yahoo and other U.S.-based multinationals "have to comply with local law."

This story drives me nuts! The Chinese government acts so capriciously with lives it does not value. This man did nothing more than report on China, he is a journalist! And they want to incarcerate him for 10 years, unacceptable. Yahoo needs not to be such a suck up and start protecting people's anonymity. Here is a link for the full story from the LA Times Link

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it's due to his name SHITAO
Its just a sign of the Times

Corporate greed and Corporate chicken shits