U.S. probes Yahoo role in Chinese journalist’s jailing

Congressional investigators plan to look into whether Yahoo Inc. executives misrepresented the Internet company’s role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist sentenced to a decade in prison.

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, ordered the investigation after a human rights group raised questions about what Yahoo knew when it shared information with authorities about Shi Tao. Beijing officials had sought Shi for sending an e-mail about Chinese media restrictions.

“For a firm engaged in the information industry, Yahoo sure has a lot of secrecy to answer for,” Lantos said.

Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan told lawmakers last year that his company had no information about the nature of the investigation when it provided details about Shi to Chinese officials, Lantos said.

But the Dui Hua Foundation has released a document that it says shows the Beijing State Security Bureau had written Yahoo saying it wanted e-mail content for an investigation into suspected “illegal provision of state secrets to foreign entities.”

Lantos said that “covering up such a despicable practice when Congress seeks an explanation is a serious offense.”

Jim Cullinan, a spokesman for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, said Lantos “is rushing to judgment on this issue, because the facts will support Yahoo’s testimony to Congress.”