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Yahoo Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit for Aiding and Abetting Torture
Can a U.S. court punish a U.S. company for alleged human rights violations committed abroad? That's one of the major questions at issue in a lawsuit filed against Internet giant Yahoo on behalf of several pro-democracy writers in China, who claim that Yahoo's release of their personal user information to the Chinese government lead to their imprisonment and torture. Not surprisingly, the suit was filed in the United States, not China -- and yesterday, Yahoo moved to dismiss the suit, according to this article in the Washington Post (8/28/07). Yahoo admitted that it released information about the writers, but defended its decision as necessary to comply with China's request, which was lawful. Yahoo's opponents question whether China could lawfully request this information, but argue that even if it could, Yahoo is obligated to follow U.S. and international legal standards when it does business abroad, which would have prohibited release of this information.
To read more on the Yahoo lawsuit and view some of the filed documents, visit this link at Rebecca McKinnon's RC Conversations Blog.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on August 28, 2007 at 07:32 PM | Permalink
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