Why does Yahoo cooperate with the Chinese government to censor citizens and stifle dissent?

Question

Yahoo provided information that helped Chinese state security officials convict a Chinese journalist for providing documents t a foreign Web site.

The journalist, Shi Tao, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in June for sending an anonymous posting to a New York-based, Chinese-language Web site. His posting summarized a communication from Communist Party authorities to media outlets around the country regarding how to censor incoming foreign information to citizens of China.

Yahoo provided records showing that Shi used a computer at his workplace, Contemporary Business News, in Changsha, late in the evening of April 20, 2004, to access his Yahoo e-mail account. Authorities say the offending e-mail was sent to the New York Web site from that e-mail account around that time, according to people involved in Shi's defense.

Chinese Internet experts say Google and Yahoo routinely exclude sensitive political or religious information from searches conducted by users in mainland China.

Answer 1

Because by not doing so, Yahoo could lose the whole Chinese market if the Goverment sensor them.

This is really more to do with politics than technology so I wont get into the debate.

Answer 2

It's the matter of respecting the laws of indivual sovereign nations which Yahoo has business holdings with.

When you travel to the UK from the United States... just because you drive on the right side of the road at home, doesn't mean its ok for you to ignore the laws in England. You must still drive on the left side of the road. When you do business in other countries... you must still obey the laws of that country.

The people in China know which rights they have and which they do not. As a citizen of China, you do not have the right to criticize the government. Most political dissidents are warned atleast once... when the continue to violate the law after the warning they are sentenced to prison.

Answer 3

they say they like to guard the voters from web content which could carry approximately undesirable behaviors. although, in addition they like to maintain thoughts approximately corruption and abuse far flung from their voters besides. they do no longer want them to ascertain how deep all of it is going even however many are attentive to it on some point. the government does not want voters getting riled up. this is undesirable sufficient that farmers and peasants rebel or protest on a popular foundation, no longer which you will see lots information coverage approximately that. We call the censorship "the large Firewall of China." As for cooperation, Google and Yahoo cooperate with the government so they are able to do company in China.

Answer 4

yahoo probaly got payed good for it