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Feb. 28, 2008

According to various reports, Yahoo faces another lawsuit over its actions in China. Several Chinese men are suing Yahoo and its Hong Kong subsidiary claiming they were harmed because of Yahoo's recent cooperation with the Chinese government.

Yahoo representatives weren't immediately available for comment.

Filed on Feb. 21 in a federal court in Oakland, the lawsuit alleges that Yahoo provided sensitive information to the Chinese authorities that led to the 2003 arrest of Li Zhi, who has served about half of an eight-year sentence.

But Li isn't named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Plaintiff Zheng Cunzhu alleges that when the arrest came to light two years ago, he was living in the U.S. at the time and lost his property in China when he didn't return for fear of getting arrested for his pro-democracy activities, the lawsuit alleges.

A second dissident plaintiff, Guo Quan, claims he lost business when his name and that of his garment company were blocked by the Yahoo search results.

The legal claims against Yahoo include violation of international law, including torture and prolonged detention, as well as unfair business practices, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and even assault.

Three months ago, Yahoo settled a lawsuit in Nov. 2007 that was originally filed by family members of two other dissidents serving 10-year sentences after Yahoo handed their account information over to the Chinese government.

And last week, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang sent U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice a letter asking the government to secure the release of dissidents jailed in China for their pro-democracy feelings.

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Source: Yahoo.