Topic: Yahoo caves to Chinese government

[Pugnate]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6975

I guess not much they can do if it is the government.

[Cobra951]

There's nothing some lowly Chinese employee can do in China.  There's plenty Yahoo itself can do, such as insulate their employees there from sensitive information, or hell, pull all stakes out of China.  Explain to me why anyone needs to be there physically at all.

[Pugnate]

Well they are a business operating in a country and have to follow the laws of that country in order to function. Either that or they close up shop.

As for your question, I am not sure, but I am assuming there is a localized Yahoo site for faster access.

[gpw11]

There was a lot of criticism about this a year ago (I remember them talking about it on TWiT or Diggnation back when I listened to podcasts at work).  The thing is (with both this and google), it's a fine line these companies walk.  You don't want the bad press to alienate your user base in the 'free world', but China is one lucrative fucking market and if you don't comply with gov't regulations not only will you get locked out, they'll get what they want from a provider with less scruples. 

[Cobra951]

The money angle has no weight for me at all.  That may be unrealistic, but so is trying to reduce murders to zero.  It doesn't mean we should repeal the laws against it.

[gpw11]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not justifying it in the least.

From my point of view we as a society share the blame due to the fact that our own laziness and sense convenience outweighs our ethical values.  We know this shit is wrong and do nothing about it.  China is a lucrative market, but not nearly as lucrative as the western world.  When a company does something like this and totally goes against our set of ethics, we should make it well known how we feel about that through boycotts and the like rather than just talking about it.  The corporations aren't blameless, but they are generally soulless by definition, as as such we must share some of the blame.

[Cobra951]

I can't argue about that.  Everyone who uses yahoo isn't suddenly going to stop, even if they did care.  I'd still like to see something done at an official level.  Fines?  Money is probably the key in constraining business practices.

[angrykeebler]

you guys remember that Doobie Brothers song "China Grove"? that was a neat song

[Cobra951]

I prefer "Black Water", same group, same period, but what does that have to do with the price of eggs in China?