Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Two on China from BNA News: YAHOO CONFIRMS IT GAVE CHINA INTERNET DATA A co-founder and senior executive of Yahoo confirmed Saturday that his company gave Chinese authorities information later used to convict a Chinese journalist now imprisoned for leaking state secrets. Speaking at an Internet conference in Hangzhou, Yahoo's co-founder, Jerry Yang, said his company had no choice but to cooperate with the authorities. [Washington Post] CLINTON WARNS CHINA WEB CENSORS Former US president Bill Clinton sidestepped talk of China's jailing of Internet political dissidents, but indicated at the China Internet Summit that web censorship could have a commercial backlash in the future. His comments come just days after a media outcry over revelations that Yahoo Holdings provided email account information to Chinese police that assisted in the conviction of a mainland journalist. [Australian IT] 9:02:28 PM    comment []

Another Benton Headline: US WON'T BAN MEDIA FROM NEW ORLEANS SEARCHES Joint Task Force Katrina "has no plans to bar, impede or prevent news media from their news gathering and reporting activities in connection with the deceased Hurricane Katrina victim recovery efforts," said Col. Christian E. deGraff, representing the task force. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison issued a temporary restraining order Friday against a "zero access" policy announced earlier in the day by Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is overseeing the federal relief effort in the city, and Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security director. In explaining the ban, Ebbert said, "we don't think that's proper" to let members of the media view the bodies. [SOURCE: CNN] 9:02:04 PM    comment []