Yahoo Cleared on Privacy Charge in China Prosecution

Yahoo should be happy.  Hong Kong's privacy commissioner cleared the company of violating Shi Tao's privacy rights.  Shi was the journalist sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets.  Specifically, he emailed a secret memorandum on media restrictions in China to the Democracy Forum web site.  Yahoo had given prosecutors email from his Yahoo account.  But that act, which helped convict Shi, did not violate his privacy.  The complaint had been raised against Yahoo by Hong Kong legislator Albert Ho, who had documents linking Yahoo to the prosecution.  The complaint was dismissed for lack of evidence.  Sounds as if due process was satisfied all the way around.

The story is in the the (London) Times Online and Washington Post.