Court papers about cyberdissident Li Zhi confirm that Yahoo! collaborated with the Chinese authorities, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Yahoo! and local competitor Sina both provided evidence that allowed the Chinese to imprison Li.Li, a 35-year-old ex-civil servant from Dazhou in south west China, was given an eight-year jail sentence in December 2003 for "inciting subversion" over comments criticising official corruption posted on online discussion groups. He was also accused of mixing with the banned China Democracy Party online.
"The Li Zhi verdict shows that all Internet sector companies are pulled in to help when the police investigate a political dissident," Reporters Without Borders said. "It is unacceptable that US firms should turn themselves into auxiliaries of a government that systematically tramples on the rights of Internet-users to freedom of expression."
The verdict showed that Yahoo! Hong Kong and Sina Beijing had supplied information confirming that Li Zhi had set up an email account using their services. It did not, however, say if the content of messages he sent or received had been handed over to the courts. Court documents revealed that a local telco helped police find Li's address and telephone number based on the IP address used to access Yahoo! and Sina email boxes.
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