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Yahoo Settles With Imprisoned Chinese Journalists
Terms of the deal are secret, but Yahoo has reached settlements with two Chinese journalists who were arrested based on information the company provided to the ruling Communist government. "[...] a source at Yahoo said the company has been 'working with the families, and we're working with them to provide them with financial, humanitarian and legal assistance.' Yahoo has also agreed to establish a global human rights fund to provide 'humanitarian relief' to support dissidents and their families. The source said that details still have to be worked out."
I see they reached an HTTP status 401 with them.
why don't you give them a job when they get out, instead of just throwing money at them? That would simultaneously make amends and give China a big Fuck you.
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
Yahoo should do all those things considering they helped put the journalists behind bars in the first place. If only a castigation from Congress would be this effective in every scenario.
After Congress's rant against Yahoo they had better back Yahoo up and pressure the Chinese to release these journalists.
I got a catholic block.
For the good of the people.
What I would like to know: have they reached a "deal" to stop cooperating with totalitarian censors in suppressing freedom of speech and political opposition?
Read Pynchon.
Has one of your loved ones been shot for treason? Disappeared for thoughtcrime? Or just had one of those spur-of-the-moment fits of altruism and volunteered to donate any and all needed organs to help a wealthy Party official?
Well, Yahoo! is here to help! Yahoo! has set up a humanitarian relief fund that to fund the families' share of the burden. For every family member shot, Yahoo! will supply your family with two cents to cover the cost of the bullet, and for every organ harvested, Yahoo! will reimburse your family for the costs of the surgery.
It's all in this Little Red "Y". Yahoooooooooo!
Seems that Tom Lantos should have grilled yahoo execs much more than he did.
Read radical news here
This is rich. Yahoo gets dissenters thrown in prison. Yahoo then generates PR by funding these organizations. Somewhat like MS spending so much time/money in Africa helping with medical problems...that are tied to the chemical plants that the Gates Foundation invests in. Generate your own PR opportunities. Genius!
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
Original article (instead of Tomcat error)
In any case, the real judge is how they decide to act next time something like this happens...
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Educational microcontroller kits for the digital generation.
you see, i had an article on there listing 'political epithets', it was deleted.
the entry for 'counterrevolutionary', which is an insult term used frequently by communist dictatorships in the past, was made its own article. funny thing, the 'new, improved' article does not mention china at all.
This is one thing that I have never understood about countries which try to limit speech and especially criticism of the government. What is gained by shutting down dissent with the power of force? Do they actually believe that the rest of the world doesn't know what is going on anyway? Heck, even the dimmest rural Chinese citizen knows well the failings of the system (probably from bitter personal experience). Is their system or argument so weak that it cannot stand up in an honest debate? These countries should stop quashing dissent with the gun and instead fight the battle of ideas in an open and public debate. What are they so afraid of? If they believe so strongly that their system is the best then why not put their money where their mouth is so to speak?
This is that card that Yahoo! will be sending to those families.
Yahoo just admitted that knowledge is forbidden fruit, and the governments of the world should control its distribution.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I've just noticed that your government icon is out of date by about 224 years
is to be respected, if that nation does not respect the will of it's people
therefore, if the country is not democratic, anything goes: you as a citizen should not respect any law of your country
authority is not to be respected if authority is not accountable to the common citizen
if a government is accountable to theocrats, royals, despots, autocrats, or technocrats, that government is not to be respected, by its citizens, or the international community
because those governments certainly don't respect their citizens
only in a democracy are the will of the citizens respected, via the vote, so only in a democracy is the government accountable to its citizens, and only democratically elected governments are to be respected by its citizens and the international community
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Surely, by them starting a fund for dissidents, they are effectively aiding and abetting dissidents, how will that not get china attacking htem?
one mans freedom fighter and all that...
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Mind that the feudal system is merely just being reintroduced for China, and Yahoo for allowing stockholders (not to be confused with mutual fund holders) divine right over human rights.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
in any nation that has practiced democracy, and in any nation that ever will practice democracy, there is the mainstream agenda, and a spectrum of fringe agendas. that's your majority and minority. the fringe agendas never will be respected, and never should be respected. because democracy is working exactly when fringe agendas don't get respected: the will of the people is the great moderate middle, not the loud stupid fringe, on any issue, right or left
and please, don't for once try to equate that bullshit with disrespecting racial minorities or religious minorities. completely different subject matter
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Dear sir or madam,
We apologize sincerely for aiding in your arrest and torture. We at yahoo do not agree with reasons given for your arrest but they offered us a lot of money. Please accept this Yahoo branded T-shirt, coffee mug, nose plug, cyanide pill and Testicle NumCream TM. I hope they will make your incarceration more bearable. We have also made a small donation in your name to Amnesty International. We know you would appreciate that.
Regards
Jerry Yang
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Sovereignty is why you don't let free trade go unchecked/unregulated.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
In some committee meeting where they were discussing the Global Online Freedom Act (not the actual Yahoo hearings), one of the congressmen mentioned those very conditions enumerated in the summary as what he thought would constitute an acceptable settlement. Perhaps Yahoo hopes that by giving in, they won't pass the Act?
The family of Shi Tao was reported to have been paid the cost of the execution and the current value of his organs.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
HTTP Status 410 -
type Status report
message :
description The requested resource () is no longer available, and no forwarding address is known.
Apache Tomcat/5.0.28
that's the will of the people. i didn't vote him, i think he's a stupid frat boy. i hate the ahole
but i respect that that is the will of the american people
i ALSO respect the fact that he did not win the popular vote in 2000. that without the retarded electoral college, al gore would have been president in 2000, and the last 8 years under gw bush would have never happened, IF the will of the people was unfiltered
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Support Yahoo. Send a dissident to camp.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
1. the vast majority has always been more tolerant than one would suppose. common decency is the norm, not rabid pogroms. it is demagogues in power who lead with lies and propaganda that incites the usual suspects into committing atrocities against religious and racial minorities
2. in cases where the majority is intent on killing a racial or religious minority, why do you think a government besides democracy will protect citizens from that? more likely, it will inflame the persecution further (jews in the ussr, christians in saudi arabia, falun gong in china, etc.)
in other words, you somehow say that democracy incites persecution of minorities. on the contrary, it puts demagogues out of power and allows common decency to shine through. and even if it doesn't do that, every other form of government makes persecution of minorities worse. this entire issue is a stupid red herring
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
less filtered. the usa has a problem with the influence of $$$. remove all $ from the system. all political ads are paid for by a national fund. everyone gets the same amount of cash. any cash spent in any way to support a candidate outside the system will be punished. anyone can run. all they need is enough preliminary votes. the preliminary vote cap will be set high as to eliminate fringe and joke candidates like the libertarians and nader
and go to borda or approval voting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borda_count
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting
it would be very hard to do, entrenched interests, ignorance, inertia, and all that, but it's obviously the right thing to do. cross your fingers
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
You are referring to this? http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story?coll=la-home-headlines
.. but all wise foundations invest in companies so that the foundation's money won't just run out. It's called prudent financial planning.
.. and furthermore that they are deliberately causing pollution.
The money is doing more good than bad by a huuge margin. Gates is not getting any richer off having this foundation. He doesn't run any chemical plants.
Gates foundation did invest a tiny portion in chemical plants such as Eni
Why don't you check out all the tangible good the foundation is doing instead of slandering them for one or two minor alleged missteps. You really need to check the facts before you conclude they are doing more harm than good
Do you know all the business practices of companies that any mutual funds you own invest in?
What is the difference between the Chinese government forcing any telecommunications company, search engine, or whatever to give up consumer data and the US government doing the same thing sometimes without even a warrant? Or a business filing a subpoena because some anonymous person posted bad things about their company/products and they want to punish them? I suppose it is ok because anyone we do this to is obviously a terrorist and wrong so it is ok. While anyone any other 'axis of evil' country does this to is oppressing them.
dude. democracy=rule by the people
you call it "proletarian dictatorship"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
that's like "dry water" or "bright darkness"
i can't even begin to put into words how out of touch you are
let's just put it this way: list all the problems you have with democracy. now look at every other government type. conclusion: EVERY OTHER GOVT TYPE IS WORSE
get to work on the space ship there bub
or, accept that the great moderate middle is not on the cutting edge of fringe issues. nor ever they will be. but they get there, slowly. and when they get there, such as with gay rights, etc., then gay rights will be accepted and respected. but until they do, tough shit. don't like that deal? guess what: NO OTHER GOVT WORKS BETTER THAN THAT in terms of the issues you care about like gay rights
congratulations, welcome to reality. deal with it
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Yeah, 'obey all laws'...
Draco was basically the grand poobah long ago. He made some 'laws', and basically made the penalty for breaking any law, death.
So, if a starving 5 year old kid stole a piece of bread, well, too bad, 'he broke the law - against theft'. Sentenced to death, etc.
Yeah, all you conservative 'obey the law' types are just full of great ideas...nothing new under the sun.
Here, read all about 'law' here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_(lawgiver)
> Terms of the deal are secret,
I bet you'll find them on Google...
It is a little more complicated than everyone seems to think.
The basic fact of the matter is Yahoo is an American company, operating multinationally. As an American company, or, as any non governmental individual or organization, Yahoo does not have the right, let alone the obligation, to act unilaterally in any matter concerning a foreign entity, state or otherwise. That is the responsibility of the State department.
Obviously, the State department does not have the resources to respond to every issue that a multinational encounters, but, in this case, there were guidelines as to proper procedures to follow when such a request from a foreign entity was made. Procedures that Yahoo did not follow.
It would be nice if the issues were a simple good versus evil type, but they are not. The US's relations with China are incredibly complicated, and they are all intertwined. It is not as if morality always takes the last place in considerations, when the moral issues are big enough, the US has a long history of overriding economic issues in favor of morality, ranging from Northern mills giving up southern cotton in the American civil war to the smoking and global warming initiatives of the next administration.
In this case, the State department would have had to weigh the welfare of one foreign national against that of a large number of American citizens. I do not know what State would have decided, but I do know the State department is really not obligated to consider the welfare of non Americans; the whole point of a government is that it is responsible to and for it's own citizens, only. The proper decision on how to handle the request was the one that was in the best interests of America, not of Yahoo, Yahoo stockholders, or any other parties involved, foreign or domestic. It would be a tough call, even without Yahoo deciding to get into the game without knowing all the rules.
So, Yahoo screwed up. It happens. They are trying to do their best to at least take responsibility and clean up as much of the mess they caused as they can, I am so very proud of them for that. If Yahoo gets some good publicity from that, so much the better, encouraging companies not to hide behind lawyers when they make a mistake is probably one of America's most important social goals.
P.S. As an amateur institutional economist and sinologist, I do feel obligated to point out that there are several misconceptions about China in the responses here.
First of all China does not repress dissent at a village level; it can't, the population is far too large for that. Heck, they can't even keep a lid on corrupt manufacturers, and thats a lot easier task. What China does is something slightly different. Chinese are allowed to dissent at a village level, all they want. The Chinese are not a particularly tame people, their contempt for their leadership is traditional, just like here in America. The Chinese people can even organize (which is NOT the same as dissent), up to a village level. The Chinese government considers that a harmless (relatively) way of releasing the tensions that are inherent in any political situation. It is also one less group of people they have to micromanage. It is not like anyone is going to listen and obey without the use of force, anyways, the Chinese traditionally ignore their government's wishes as much as they can, again, just like here in America.
Beyond that, however, China suppresses organized dissent, very hard. When you consider that, even at that small level of freedom, riots involving 80,000 or more Chinese are common, you can pretty much understand China's reasons for those policies; those riots, historically, have been very destructive. As a matter of fact, in Chinese history, many times those riots have spread, and millions of Chinese have died. Right now, practically everyone is predicting a major set of riots next September, after the 2008 Olympics. A lot of what you are seeing right now is the Chinese government trying to make sure it doesn't happen e
Boss: Sorry, Luke. I'm just doing my job. You gotta appreciate that.
Luke: Nah - calling it your job don't make it right, Boss.
The Condorcet Method. But changing our country's voting system is about as likely as us developing a porcine air force.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton