Yahoo Calls for Censorship Dialogue

Yahoo on Monday issued a statement of beliefs on is positions regarding privacy and free speech, and said that American businesses and the government need to take a proactive role in shaping the global dialogue. Additionally, the company responded to criticisms of its compliance with the Chinese government.

Information provided by Yahoo to the Chinese government has already led to the arrest and jailing of at least one Chinese national, which human rights activists soundly criticized. The company defended itself, saying it had no choice but to comply and it never was informed of the intended use of the information.

Activists have also criticized MSN, who started censoring MSN Spaces blogs in China in June of last year, and Google, which agreed to censor its search results in order to launch a Chinese version of its search engine in the country.

Press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders criticized Google's move saying, "freedom of expression isn't a minor principle that can be pushed aside when dealing with a dictatorship."

Yahoo says it would work with other companies, as well as government and academia, to develop a core set of policies for dealing with such oppressive regimes. Microsoft seems to agree, with General Counsel Brad Smith saying in late January that a broader discussion was indeed necessary.

Yahoo further said that it would rigorously employ means to protect user privacy when dealing with information requests. In situations where a government body requests a restriction of search results, the service would do so in a way that causes minimal impact and is apparent to the user, however declined to specify any details.

The company also said it is interested in maintaining a dialogue with countries to ensure the free flow of information over the Internet, adding that government-to-government discussion on the topic was necessary to see progress on this front.