Amnesty International confronts Yahoo!

Amnesty International is calling for action on behalf of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist recently imprisoned for ten-years for "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities." His discovery and subsequent apprehension is credited to the disclosure of his email account details by Yahoo! to the Chinese government. He is considered a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. AI goes on to state:

Companies must respect human rights, wherever they operate. Yahoo’s business ethics are becoming questionable due to its role in assisting the Chinese government to sentencing Shi Tao. The company has signed the Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the Internet Industry, effectively agreeing to implement China’s draconian system of censorship and control.

Here are some additional stories to bring you up to speed on Shi Tao's story:

Shi Tao's entry on Wikipedia
Yahoo 'helped jail China writer' (BBC)
Yahoo, Chinese police, and a jailed journalist (Christian Science Monitor)

Related: Microsoft sets policy for dealing with government restrictions on blog content (ArsTechnica)

Link (via BoingBoing)