Thursday, March 27, 2008

Yahoo denies outing Tibetan protestors to China

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March 25, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Yahoo announced over the weekend that it did not post images of Tibetan rioters on its website, despite reports from several news sources of a "most wanted" poster being spread across the Yahoo China homepage.

In a statement sent to French news outlet The Observers, Yahoo said: "Contrary to media reports, Yahoo! Inc. is not displaying images on its websites of individuals wanted by Chinese authorities in connection with the unrest in Tibet."

However, Agence France-Presse reports that Yahoo says it is looking into the matter with Alibaba Group, the company that controls Yahoo China.

Yahoo owns 40 percent of the privately held Alibaba Group, which in turn, owns and operates Yahoo China. Yahoo has attempted to put all responsibility of its Chinese operations on Alibaba Group in the past when it was accused of helping the Chinese police capture journalist Shi Tao, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 for "divulging state secrets."

On Friday, the homepage of Yahoo China ran a "most wanted" poster revealing the faces of 19 Tibetans wanted by the Chinese authorities for protesting in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. The photos seemed to be taken from grainy footage shot during the unrest on March 14.

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