Amnesty International USA, an activist shareholder of Yahoo.com's stock, challenges the company to uphold human rights in its operations in China.
Amnesty says thousands of AI members have already written to Yahoo's CEO, calling on the company to push for the release of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist now serving ten years in prison for sending politically sensitive information in an email using a Yahoo account.
During Yahoo's stockholder meeting on May 25, Anthony Cruz, AIUSA's Corporate Action Network Coordinator for California, addressed Yahoo's stockholders, asking management to go on the record calling for the release of Shi and Li.
Leading American Internet companies, including Microsoft and Google, have made similar concessions to the Chinese to help with online censorship. Last week, Cruz addressed shareholders at the Google annual meeting, where co-founder Sergei Brin seemed to dodge questions about Google's conduct by pointing the finger at Yahoo for helping put Chinese netizens in jail.
Last week AIUSA launched a comprehensive web-based action allowing concerned Internet users to send direct messages to U.S.-based technology giants, demanding they stop assisting foreign governments in their attempt to curtail freedom of speech on the Internet.
