Legal Actions Against Yahoo and Google
In early 2008, Guo Quan, a university professor who had been dismissed after having founded a democratic opposition party, announced plans to sue Yahoo!( Chief Executive Jerry Yang)and Google in the United States for having blocked his name from search results in China.
| “ | Guo Quan, an expert on classical Chinese literature and the 1937 Nanjing massacre of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops, last week issued an open letter pledging to bring a lawsuit against Google after he discovered that his name had been excised in searches of its google.cn portal in China.
He told The Times that he had now found that the Chinese Yahoo! site had also blocked his name and he planned to bring actions against both companies. Mr Guo said: “Since 1 January a lot of friends told me that websites with my name had been closed. They told me it's impossible to search for my information on Google and Yahoo!” |
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- On 28 Feb 2008 Elinor Mills of Businessweek reported that several plaintiffs filed suit in Oakland, California federal court against Internet portal Yahoo, alleges that Yahoo provided information to the Chinese authorities that led to the 2003 arrest of Li Zhi, who has served about half of an eight-year sentence.
Both Plaintiff Zheng Cunzhu (Ch:郑存柱) and plaintiff Guo Quan alleged that Yahoo's business tactic had caused them personal and financial harm. Zheng Cunzhu claimed :"(he) lost his property in China when he did not return for fear of getting arrested for his pro-democracy activities" and Guo Quan claimed that " he lost business when his name and that of his garment company were blocked by the Yahoo search results."
List of claims against Yahoo:
- violation of international law including torture and prolonged detention
- unfair business practices
- intentional infliction of emotional distress
- false imprisonment and assault.
in November(2007) Yahoo settled an out of court lawsuit filed by family members of two other dissidents serving 10-year sentences after Yahoo handed their account information over to the Chinese government. And "last week(Jan 2008) Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang sent U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a letter asking the government to secure the release of dissidents jailed in China for their pro-democracy sentiments."
Read more about this topic: Guo Quan
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