Crossposted at ARGville
Yu Ling is a 55-years-old Chinese woman visiting the United States to sue Yahoo for causing her husband's arrest in China. His crime? Writing pro-democracy articles and e-mailing them anonymously. Or so he thought. Yahoo provided all the information needed for the Chinese police to arrest and convict him. Now he's serving 10 years in Chinese prison.
Yahoo aren't the only ones cooperating with the enemies of freedom:
To comply with government requirements, Google's China search engine blocks access to sites the government deems objectionable. Microsoft launched its Chinese blogging service in 2005 with filters that prohibited sensitive words such as freedom and democracy in blog titles. And Cisco supplies internet backbone equipment the Chinese government uses in the so-called Great Firewall that shields citizens from websites about Tibet and the Tiananmen Square massacre.
What are the chances that Yu Ling will win her lawsuit? Very slim, experts say. And what are the chances she can help stop this collaboration? Let's face it, in search of the almighty yuan, companies from all over the world, not just America, will continue to look the other way and collaborate with the Chinese. Yu can't stop that.
Given our form of capitalism it's unrealistic to expect that companies will voluntarily turn their backs on the largest developing market in the world. This case is a good example where a US government really committed to democracy is needed. Lip service isn't cutting it, but that is what we're getting. Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoning, Yu's husband, rots in jail just for writing his opinions -- Yahoo put him there.