Chinese Journalists Supported On Yahoo Video

The new video service from Yahoo now matches competitors YouTube and Google Video in permitting users to upload videos to the service for sharing with others; two videos that made it to the system may be a bit embarrassing to Yahoo. The Good Morning Silicon Valley blog Yahoo Video's recently released upload service. One video came from a lawyer for imprisoned Yahoo Video search for Yahoo China. The producers of both videos have helpfully provided translation via subtitles of both men's speeches, which we've excerpted as follows. "Yahoo didn't only give information about Shi Tao, it has done the same to many others," said Shi Tao's lawyer. "Does Yahoo have to absolutely obey Chinese law? In fact, it has the right to decide. That's to say that if (Yahoo) finds there is a contradiction between the law and the protection of human rights, for example freedom of communication and expression, then Yahoo has the right not to comply." "My brother is in jail because of you," said Li Zhi's brother. "His health wasn't great before he was imprisoned, he had hepatitis. Since he's been in jail, he's caught pleurisy because of doing hard labor. "This has just torn our family apart. He's been found guilty under Chinese law, although when you look at his file, I'm convinced he's innocent. Your company is the reason all of this has happened." Yahoo CEO Terry Semel came in for some criticism today when the Wall Street Journal's "D: Notebook" blog Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Bookmark Murdok: David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.