Multinational Yahoo argues it has no choice but to obey Chinese government law and turn over its own Chinese subsidiaries records on Chinese citizens to government
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/yahoo-says-followed-chinese-law/story.aspx?guid=%7B46315423%2DD059%2D4814%2DBEFD%2DA77B92140881%7DSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) --- Yahoo Inc. said Monday that its Chinese subsidiary had no choice but to follow local laws when it handed over private information about political dissidents that led to their imprisonment and torture and that lawsuit should be dismissed so as to not damage US-China relations.
In April, a lawsuit was filed in federal court in California on behalf of Chinese dissident Wang Xiaoning and his wife Yu Ling, alleging that Yahoo gave private information about Wang to Chinese authorities that led to his detention. Jailed Chinese Journalist Shi Tao was added as a plaintiff in May......
Yahoo argued Monday that Wang and Shi should have realized they were putting themselves in harm's way.
"They assumed the risk of harm when they chose to use Yahoo China email and group list services to engage in activity they knew violated Chinese law," Yahoo said in the filing.........
Yahoo warned that filing the lawsuit in California "might well be viewed as a profound rebuke" of the Chinese government, "and risk poisoning U.S. relations with a significant world power."
"Free speech rights as we understand them in the United States are not the law in China," Yahoo said, "Every sovereign nation has a right to regulate speech within its borders."