Last week a report on CNN stated that a Chinese citizen was arrested, convicted, and jailed for four years for “incitement to subvert state power”.. This in itself is nothing new.. What is new is that a US based search engine company has been named in court documents as providing evidence that helped convict the “dissident”..

But it wasn’t Google.. It was Yahoo.. And this isn’t the first time that Yahoo has helped to jail a political activist in China.. This is the fourth to be documented.. Apparently Wang Xiaoning created a Yahoo Group called aaabbbccc helped lead to his conviction..

While I find the entire situation unnerving in this day and age, what I find even more telling is the total lack of response from the activists here in the states.. Where ar the people that were protesting Google’s agreement to censor data from their search results for Chinese citizens?? Where are the vehement forum postings about Google doing “no evil”?? Why are these people silent??

My guess, Yahoo isn’t the media darling that Google is and therefore isn’t a worthy target.. Why go after a company that won’t get you on the front page for a real political crime when you can get all sorts of air time by going after someone that is popular right now?? Is it a double standrad for the activists to behave this way?? Or is this normal behavior for many of them?? The “I only protest when I can be seen on TV” activist?? Or more likely, it’s not about forcing real change, but doing what makes them feel good about themselves for the moment..

Fey~