Yahoo's Smooth Move
I have to stand up and applaud Yahoo's decision to settle the lawsuits filed by the families of the two Chinese journalists who were imprisoned after Yahoo turned their identities over to Chinese authorities. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. Still, the families probably would not have settled so quickly if Yahoo had not made a reasonably generous offer, in keeping with Congressman Tom Lantos' demand last week that Yahoo try to find some way to help meet the humanitarian needs of the families who lost their bread-winners when Yahoo gave them up. The decision is a feather in the cap of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and an impressive move on his part. I'm sure plenty of people were giving him dumb advice to stonewall and stall and, as an American, I am relieved that Yang knew better.
I hope the controversy over all this will help highlight the moral and ethical responsibilities U. S. companies have when they do business in countries that violate the basic human rights of their citizens. As someone who has been fairly critical of Yahoo in recent years it's great to once again have something nice to say about the company. It took a little while, but Jerry Yang did the right thing. Anyone who cares about freedom and human rights, and who thinks those values are at least as important as money and new markets, should try to buy something from Yahoo today. I know I will.
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