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Yahoo 'helped jail China writer'

Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China

which led to the jailing of a journalist for " divulging state secrets " .

Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo's Hong Kong arm helped China link Shi

Tao's e-mail account and computer to a message containing the information.

The media watchdog accused Yahoo of becoming a " police informant " in order

to further its business ambitions.

A Yahoo spokeswoman said it had to operate within each country's laws.

" Just like any other global company, Yahoo must ensure that its local

country sites must operate within the laws, regulations and customs of the

country in which they are based, " said Osako.

Shi Tao, 37, worked for the Contemporary Business News in Hunan province,

before he was arrested and sentenced in April to 10 years in prison.

According to a translation of his conviction, reproduced by Reporters

Without Borders, he was found guilty of sending foreign-based websites the text

of an internal Communist Party message.

Reporters Without Borders said the message warned journalists of the

dangers of social unrest resulting from the return of dissidents on the 15th

anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in June 2004.

Censorship fears

The media organisation accused Yahoo of providing Chinese investigating

organs with information that helped link Shi Tao's personal e-mail account and

the text of the message to his computer.

" We already knew that Yahoo! collaborates enthusiastically with the

Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese

police informant as well, " Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

Western internet companies have regularly been criticised for agreeing to

China's strict rules governing the internet, which Communist Party leaders fear

could be a tool to spread dissent.

Microsoft was criticised in June for censoring what bloggers write.

The companies say they have to abide by local regulations, and point out

that since China is set to be the world's biggest internet market, they cannot

ignore it.

" Microsoft works to bring our technology to people around the world to

help them realise their full potential, " said a Microsoft spokesperson.

" Like other global organisations we must abide by the laws, regulations

and norms of each country in which we operate. "

Earlier this month Yahoo paid $1bn (£556m) for a stake in China's biggest

e-commerce firm, Alibaba.com.