ArticleSnatch Blog

A high level meeting of China’s Communist government took place this week, during which time Reporters Without Borders said China redirected certain Internet traffic to Baidu.

Attempts to reach Google Blog Search and YouTube from China have been unsuccessful since October 17, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) charged today.

The organization, which supports press freedom worldwide, said attempts to reach Google Blog Search go to Baidu, a native Chinese search engine, instead. YouTube cannot be reached at all, though RSF said another video sharing site, Dailymotion, can be accessed.

RSF has been a long-time critic of China’s practices with regards to press freedom, and the cause of journalists imprisoned by the State. They blasted the blocking taking place:

“The blocking of these sites comes at a perfect time for the government. Blogs and video-sharing sites such as YouTube offer ways for Internet users to share situations they may have encountered during the congress. Preventing Chinese citizens from having access to them forces them to rely on the national media for their information.”

RSF also noted that on October 15th, the front pages of all the national newspapers were virtually identical.

Meanwhile, top US technology companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco continue to do business with the Chinese government, citing the usual refrain about complying with local laws. China’s massively growing base of Internet users, second only to the US, has enticed these companies into the country.

They don’t seem to have plans to leave at any particular time, either.

Reporters Without Borders, China, Google, YouTube, Censorship

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As censorship goes, this could be worse – YouTube has made any videos insulting the king of Thailand inaccessible from within that country.  In return, the Thai government has lifted a ban and apparently allowed everything else on the video-sharing site to return.

When we last heard from YouTube and the government of Thailand, it appeared their tiff was over, and access to YouTube was to be restored.  (That was two months ago.  Way to move quickly, fellas.)  But from YouTube’s perspective, it could be worse, since the government had been threatening to sue.

Also, a BBC article on the matter notes, “Insulting the king is considered an offence in Thailand and is punishable with a 15-year jail sentence.”

Many outsiders feel that even the “light” censorship that has been enacted is highly questionable, however, and neither YouTube nor its owner have made any effort to explain their actions.  A Reporters Without Borders statement on the matter reads, “We note the unblocking of the video-sharing site but we ask Google to make public the contents of a compromise referred to by the Thai Information and Communications Ministry.”

It’s unlikely, to be honest, that we’ll ever see those contents.  On a related note: even as things in Thailand appear to have wrapped up, an argument concerning Nazi clips on YouTube has begun in Germany.

Tags: YouTube, Thailand, Censorship

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Complying with local laws, even ones that could jeopardize the liberty of Chinese bloggers, has been the mantra of tech companies doing business in China.

Reporters Without Borders is already hopping mad at both Yahoo and Microsoft for acceding to Chinese government requirements on censorship, and in Yahoo’s case, its role in the prosecution of three journalists in the country.

The journalist rights advocacy group has something new to bash the two big Internet players over, along with a number of other companies. Reporters Without Borders criticized the two companies for signing off on a Chinese “self-discipline pact” that looks like a lead-in to censorship as well as an end to anonymous blogging:

Under the new pact, blog service providers are “encouraged” to register users under their real names and contact information before letting them post blogs. More seriously, they will be required to keep this information, which will allow the authorities to identify them. These companies have already in the past provided the police with information about their clients, resulting in arrests.

Along with Microsoft’s and Yahoo’s Chinese-based domains, major native portals Sohu and Tom were among those companies agreeing to adhere to the pact.

Blogging, China, Microsoft, Yahoo, RSF

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The revelation of a Beijing State Security document issued to Yahoo for information on journalist Shi Tao contradicted testimony by a Yahoo executive; a California Congressman wants Yahoo to clarify the disparity.

After Reporters Without Borders (RSF) revealed a translated police document about the investigation of Shi, Yahoo denied its executive, Michael Callahan, lied to Congress about how much Yahoo knew about Beijing’s aims.

The translation by Dui Hua quickly circulated beyond the RSF. It has not been dismissed as a mistranslation or a fake.

The document puts Yahoo in a bad light, making its protestations of not knowing why Beijing wanted information about Shi’s Yahoo Mail account ring hollow.

With some of those denials coming from Callahan in a February 2006 appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Lantos , the Committee’s chair, wants Yahoo to explain the discrepancy. From an AP report:

“For a firm engaged in the information industry, Yahoo sure has a lot of secrecy to answer for,” said Lantos, a Democrat. “We expect to learn the truth and to hold the company to account.”

Lantos said that “covering up such a despicable practice when Congress seeks an explanation is a serious offense.”

Jim Cullinan, a Yahoo spokesman, expressed disappointment that Lantos “is rushing to judgment on this issue, because the facts will support Yahoo’s testimony to Congress.”

Here is what Callahan told Congress as part of his February 2006 testimony:

Let me take this opportunity to correct inaccurate reports that Yahoo! Hong Kong gave information to the Chinese government. This is absolutely untrue. Yahoo! Hong Kong was not involved in any disclosure of information about Mr. Shi to the Chinese government.

In this case, the Chinese government ordered Yahoo! China to provide user information, and Yahoo! China complied with Chinese law. To be clear - Yahoo! China and Yahoo! Hong Kong have always operated independently of one another. There was not then, nor is there today, any exchange of user information between Yahoo! Hong Kong and Yahoo! China.

Here’s what the memo from Beijing State Security Bureau said on April 22, 2004:

Beijing Representative Office, Yahoo! (HK) Holdings Ltd.:
According to investigation, your office is in possession of the following items relating to a case of suspecting illegal provision of state secrets to foreign entities that is currently under investigation by our bureau. In accordance with Article 45 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the PRC, [these items] may be collected. The items for collection are:

Email account registration information for huoyan1989@yahoo.com.cn, all login times, corresponding IP addresses, and relevant email content from February 22, 2004 to present.

As we noted in our previous article, Callahan’s position hinges on whether or not Yahoo China and Yahoo Hong Kong shared this memo. That would mean Yahoo China received a separate request, per Callahan’s testimony, for information on Shi.

It looks like Callahan will have to bring a copy of that separate request to Lantos and the Foreign Affairs Committee, and say they didn’t know the local security apparatus also dropped by the HK Holdings office with one as well.

Yahoo, China, Shi Tao, Dui Hua

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The saga of jailed Chinese journalist Shi Tao took a sharp twist when Reporters Without Borders accused a Yahoo executive of lying to Congress about Yahoo’s knowledge of Beijing’s investigation.

Journalist advocacy group Reporters Without Borders has been in a running feud with Yahoo over actions by China’s government against reporters. Those actions, including the jailing of Shi Tao, featured evidence against Shi obtained from Yahoo.

RSF furiously denounced Yahoo each time revelations of this cooperation, particularly in the cases of Jiang Lijun, Li Zhi, and Shi, emerged from court documents. The organization recently found more information about the Shi case that has them accusing Yahoo’s Mike Callahan of lying to Congress:

Yahoo! executive Michael Callahan told a US congressional committee in February 2006 that his company had been told nothing about the content of the investigation into Shi Tao which the Chinese authorities began in 2004. But in fact, China’s Department of State Security sent Yahoo! a document dated 22 April 2004 explaining that the authorities wanted information about an Internet user suspected of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign institutions.”

Callahan testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in February 2006. The Chinese Law Prof blog listed an excerpt of his testimony, which is no longer available from the Committee’s website:

Let me take this opportunity to correct inaccurate reports that Yahoo! Hong Kong gave information to the Chinese government. This is absolutely untrue. Yahoo! Hong Kong was not involved in any disclosure of information about Mr. Shi to the Chinese government.

In this case, the Chinese government ordered Yahoo! China to provide user information, and Yahoo! China complied with Chinese law. To be clear – Yahoo! China and Yahoo! Hong Kong have always operated independently of one another. There was not then, nor is there today, any exchange of user information between Yahoo! Hong Kong and Yahoo! China.

Yahoo provided this statement from a company spokesperson in response to a request for comment on RSF’s allegations:

"Mr. Callahan’s testimony to Congress last year was accurate and forthright. Mr. Callahan also clearly and directly condemned punishment of any activity recognized as free expression, whether in China or anywhere else in the world."

The Chinese Law Prof blog entry said if Callahan’s testimony was accurate, which Yahoo asserted to WebProNews today is the case, "the court is either dissembling or using forged evidence."

The PDF presented by RSF shows Beijing’s State Security Bureau addressed its Notice of Evidence Collection to ‘Beijing Representative Office, Yahoo! (HK) Holdings Ltd.’ This seems to indicate the request arrived at a Yahoo Hong Kong office in Beijing.

It is possible that the Beijing office knew of the request, but the Hong Kong-based office of Yahoo HK Holdings did not, or at least never informed Callahan of the request. There doesn’t appear to be a logical reason for Callahan to lie to the House Committee on this point, since Yahoo always claims it has to comply with local law enforcement requests.

It’s still odd to see such a contrast between the request RSF revealed, and Callahan’s testimony.

Yahoo, China, Shi Tao, RSF

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Reporters Without Borders said the release of cyber dissident Nguyen Vu Binh on June 9 under a presidential amnesty was a "great relief" but added it should not be forgotten that he was in prison for close to five years for what he wrote online.

"This news should not divert attention from the ongoing crackdown on Vietnamese dissidents, either," Reporters Without Borders said.

"Binh’s release on the eve of a visit by President Nguyen Minh Triet was prompted more by a desire to create a good impression on the international community than any real intention to improve the human rights situation in Vietnam."

Binh was arrested on September 25, 2002, and was sentenced on December 31, 2003 to seven years in prison and three years of house arrest for posting what the government labeled "reactionary" articles on the Internet and communicating with "subversive dissidents."

President Triet will visit the U.S. on June 22. President Bush has expressed "deep concern" about the increase in arrests of pro-democracy activists in Vietnam and said those actions would limit the growth of bilateral relations.

Eight cyber-dissidents are still being held in Vietnam because of articles posted online.

Reporters Without Borders

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When a Chinese reporter was imprisoned due to Yahoo’s loose lips, the reporter’s mother filed a lawsuit on his behalf.  Now, although he is still in jail, Shi Tao’s name has been added to the suit.

In response, Yahoo appears to have made yet another half-apology.  “Yahoo is dismayed that citizens in China have been imprisoned for expressing their political views on the Internet,” the search engine company told the AP’s Dikky Sinn.  If you’re just tuning in, a story from our own David Utter can provide some background information.

Another of David’s pieces demonstrates how past statements from Yahoo have also been of a pass-the-buck, shift-the-blame nature; CEO Terry Semel once said, “I continue to be pissed off, outraged, and feel very very bad about it.  But you have to follow the laws of the country you’re in . . . .  I don’t think any one company is going to change a country, and I don’t think any one industry is going to change a country.”

Semel may be on firm legal ground, but that still doesn’t appear to be winning Yahoo any points in the PR department.  Just this past week, Reporters Without Borders“reiterated its call to the Chinese authorities to quickly release journalist Shi Tao after his mother received the World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen award on his behalf at a ceremony.”

Then came a new report from Amnesty International bashing Yahoo (along with Google and Microsoft).  And now Shi’s name has been added to the lawsuit against Yahoo.  The search engine company appears to be doing just fine, from a business perspective, despite this mess.  Still, one has to wonder if Yahoo’s leaders will, at some point, feel compelled to make amends.

Tags: Yahoo, China, Lawsuit, Repression

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Venezuelans upset by the government-ordered shutdown of Radio Caracas Television can follow the station’s new daily broadcasts at YouTube.

It’s been said that the Internet routes itself around obstacles. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez has motivated Radio Caracas to use the Internet, and route around his ban on their station.

No big deal, said CNN. Radio Caracas already has a way around Chavez’s order:

Although the station is officially off the air, CNN’s Harris Whitbeck said its news department continues to operate on reduced staffing, and the three daily hour-long installments of the newscast “El Observador” are uploaded onto YouTube by RCTV’s Web department.

“We’re just doing our job as journalists,” said an employee of RCTV. “As long as somebody is seeing us, we consider what we are doing to be valid.”

Chavez and Radio Caracas had been at odds for years, with the latest incident happening when the government refused to renew the station’s broadcast license. Reporters Without Borders now says the Chavez regime will next target Globovisión.

Perhaps Globovisión will be on YouTube soon, too.

YouTube, Venezuela, Radio Caracas, Censorship

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Reports of YouTube’s unavailability in Morocco has raised fears that the government is censoring access to the video sharing site.

"Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake." - Ilsa walks into Rick's life again, in 1942's Casablanca.

If Sam were around today, he wouldn’t be able to play it from YouTube, no matter how nicely Ilsa asked. Moroccan YouTube fans have been doing without their video fix from the massively popular site since May 25th.

The BBC said the Moroccan government might have a problem with the content of some politically sensitive videos. These concern Morocco’s actions in 1975, when it annexed the disputed territory, Western Sahara.

However, a state telecom spokesperson told the BBC a technical glitch caused the problem. A government official would not comment on the problem.

Reporters Without Borders blasted the contention by Maroc Telecom that a glitch could be the cause.

“We wonder how a ‘technical problem’ can affect only one website,” the organization said in a statement. “No official statement has supported this version. Blocking access to a site is illegal unless ordered by a court.”

YouTube, Morocco

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Over two months ago, authorities in Turkey found a video on YouTube that implied Ataturk, the country’s founder, was gay.  Turkey banned YouTube, YouTube removed the clip, and the Turkish government got way too cocky – it’s now reserved the legal right to block any website with content it finds offensive to Ataturk’s memory.

Our previouscoverage of this story led to one of the most “energetic” comment sections WebProNews has ever seen.  This time around, Reporters Without Borders seemed to get worked up as it responded to Turkey’s decision.

“It shows the authorities want to force website editors to censor themselves,” the group wrote.  “The possible consequences of this law are very disturbing.  Will subversive content also be banned from chat forums?  How far does the government want go to impose its control on online dissent?”

Indeed.  Some people might also be interested in Reporters Without Borders’s description of the Turkish regulation.

Well, Turkey may have done it this time.  It beat Google, but can it beat the world?  In related news, the Post Chronicle reports, “New French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday he does not believe Turkey should be admitted to the European Union.”

Tags: Turkey, YouTube, Ataturk, Censorship

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