NUJ advises boycott of 'unethical' Yahoo!



The National Union of Journalists is advising its 40,000 members to
boycott all Yahoo! products and services in protest at its repeated
collusion with the Chinese authorities.



In a letter to Yahoo! Europe's vice president Dominique Vidal, the
union's new media council said that NUJ members have been unanimous in
their condemnation of Yahoo!.



The search portal provided information to Chinese authorities that
helped identify and prosecute several journalists and pro-democracy
writers.



Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison for forwarding a
government email to the foreign press. The authorities had tried to
warn journalists of the 'danger' posed by the return of dissidents on
the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.



Jiang Lijun was sentenced to four years in November 2003 after Yahoo!
provided information that helped identify him. He was sentenced for
writing articles that called the Chinese government "autocratic" and
said that he favoured a western-style democracy.




Li Zhi was sentenced to eight years for discussing pro-democracy
issues in a web forum and for emailing pro-democracy campaigners.



"The Chinese government has an atrocious record of censorship and free
expression and it is essential that the rest of the world publicly
objects to and campaigns against this repressive regime," said Jeremy
Dear, general secretary of the NUJ.



"The NUJ regards Yahoo!'s actions as a completely unacceptable
endorsement of the Chinese authorities. As a result, the NUJ will be
cancelling all Yahoo!-operated services and advising all members to
boycott Yahoo! until the company changes its irresponsible and
unethical policy."



Members are advised to contact the new media council for advice on
alternative email, group forum and portal services.



Posted on microsyster's blog at
http://www.microsyster.org.uk/blog/archives/2006/07/entry_101.html