After its mauling at the hands of a Congressional panel last week, Yahoo has agreed to settle a suit brought against it by the World Organization for Human Rights USA. The aim of the suit had been to show Yahoo’s complicity in the arrests of Chinese dissidents when the company gaveuser information to Chinese authorities. As a result of Yahoo passing on that information, journalist Shi Tao was arrested and imprisoned, along with writer Wang Xiaoning. Both are now serving10-year jail terms for the “subversion of state power” and “sharing state secrets.” Neither side has issued details of the settlement, although it’s believed toinclude a deal whereby Yahoo will try to secure the release of the imprisoned men, an understanding as to actions Yahoo will take when approached to identify users in future, and efforts to meet thehumanitarian needs of those who have been unlawfully detained as a result of Yahoo’s actions. Last year, Yahoo’s executive vice-president and general counsel Michael Callahan explained to acongressional panel that he’d had no knowledge as to why the Chinese authorities had wanted to trace Shi Tao. He claimed that the company had to comply with Chinese laws in order to do businessthere. But last week he admitted that other Yahoo employees had been in possession of a document saying the search was to do with the "suspected illegal provision of state secrets,”although he claimed he wasn’t aware of that information until months after his testimony. In response, a Congressional panel called Yahoo’s actions "at best inexcusablynegligent" and at worst "deceptive."
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