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Yahoo lobbied on China, foreign control
2008-02-22
Yahoo Inc., which has come under fire for its role in the jailing of Chinese journalists, spent $1.6 million in 2007 lobbying the government, in part, on issues related to China and foreign jurisdiction over U.S. companies. The Internet company did not specifically list in a federal disclosure report its role in a Chinese government investigation that led to the imprisonment of two Chinese dissidents. Yahoo cooperated with Chinese authorities and disclosed information about the online activities of the journalists, who were each sentenced to 10-year prison terms for allegedly leaking state secrets and political writings. Yahoo has staunchly defended its actions over the last two years as criticism mounted, especially from U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates who accused it of complicity with an oppressive regime. "While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," the late California Democrat Tom Lantos, who was the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said at a November hearing. Lantos died Feb. 11 at the age of 80. At that hearing, Chief Executive Jerry Yang said the company had been "open and forthcoming" with the committee, which was probing statements another Yahoo executive made at a congressional hearing in 2006 regarding the Chinese investigation. That executive later apologized for failing to turn over new information to Congress. Yahoo executives at the hearing also testified on doing business in countries, such as China, which restrict access to information and freedom of expression. In 2005, the company bought a 40 percent stake in China's biggest online commerce firm, Alibaba.com, which runs Yahoo's mainland China operations In November, the company settled a lawsuit with the families of Shi and another jailed Chinese journalist. Neither side disclosed settlement's details, but said Yahoo would pay the attorneys fees for the journalists and "provide financial, humanitarian and legal support to these families." On Thursday, Yang sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking for her assistance in helping free the journalists when she travels to China this month. Yahoo spent more than $925,000 in the second half of 2007 to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure form posted online Feb. 14 by the Senate's public records office. The company also lobbied on numerous other Internet-related issues, including music licensing, authentication, privacy, data security, identity theft, spyware and child pornography. Other matters included patent reform and energy efficiency legislation and enforcement of intellectual property rights. It lobbied Congress, the White House, the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Justice Department and other agencies. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company spent $700,000 in the first six months of 2007 to lobby on similar issues. Lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches, under a federal law enacted in 1995.
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