Won't someone please think of the kittens!
Breaking news from Santa Clara: Hordes of Giant Killer Kittens rampaging towards Yahoo HQb3ta's yahoogroup no longer in existance!
Site News: Yahoo please talk to us! Help! - our email list (with over 100,000 subscribers) has been deleted. We don't know why. If you work with the Yahoo! Groups department or know someone who does then please get in touch with me (robmanuel at gmail dot com). BTW: This means no newsletter today - sorry - but if there's no one to send it to, then we're not posting it.WTF?!? Tech issue, major clusterfuck or censorship???? Check wiki for updates.
posted by rob on 10th Feb at 2pm
posted by cfsmtb at
1:17 pm
2 Comments:
Yahoo Grapples With Online Rights - New York Times
In advance of what could be harsh Congressional questioning this week, Yahoo plans to issue a statement today outlining its belief in openness and freedom of speech — even when it is forced to violate those beliefs by laws in China.
Yahoo and three other technology companies are to testify Wednesday before a House human rights subcommittee about their business dealings in China.
"We are deeply concerned by efforts of governments to restrict and control open access to information and communication," an advance copy of the statement said. "We also firmly believe the continued presence and engagement of companies like Yahoo is a powerful force in promoting openness and reform."
In addition to pledging to work with industry, government and other groups to develop policies for doing business in restrictive countries, Yahoo, which censors the results on the Chinese version of its search engine to meet government demands, also said it would strive to make those restrictions apparent to users.
Yahoo's general counsel, Michael Callahan, will join executives from Google, Microsoft and Cisco before the House subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations on Wednesday.
All four companies have come under fire for their dealings in China — from agreeing to censor their search or blogging tools to providing hardware that makes government surveillance of Internet users easier.
The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders revealed last Wednesday that a Chinese division of Yahoo had provided information to authorities that contributed to the conviction in 2003 of Li Zhi, a former civil servant who had criticized local officials online. Mr. Li is serving eight years in prison.
It was the second disclosure of such an incident in the last six months. Mr. Callahan said the company welcomed the opportunity to discuss these issues with Congress.
"There is no question that complying with Chinese law in the way that's come to light has led to things that have caused our company to reflect hard on these issues," he said.
By
Anonymous, at 6:48 pm, February 13, 2006
From todays (belated) b3ta newsletter: It was a fuck up!
From Rob Manuel:
... Last Friday our email list - over 100,000 of you - disappeared from Yahoo. Frankly we got into a bit of a sulk that something that has taken so long to build could disappear over night. Thankfully - by late Monday - Yahoo restored our list and - despite our paranoia that we'd done something to really upset them - said, "Apologies for the problem. We would
like to continue to host your list." So thank goodness for that. We were shitting bricks.
Anyway. It's the knowing that there are readers that keeps us writing this newsletter. So, the thought that we'd lost you made us sob into our pillows.
Here's to you, dear readers, as without your subscriptions this newsletter and site simply wouldn't exist.
B3ta loves you damnit. Each and every last hairy one of you.
BTW: If you're reading this via the website and have never signed-up, please do, seeing the numbers go up gives us internet-wood. There's an email box on the right-hand-side of our frontpage. Make us stiff.
http://www.b3ta.com/
By
cfsmtb, at 9:25 am, February 15, 2006
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