A human-rights group has filed suit against Yahoo for allegedly providing information to the Chinese government that led to the persecution, torture and imprisonment of dissidents. The suit seeks damages for Wang Xiaoning, who is serving 10 years in prison after cops raided his home and repeatedly beat him in detention without informing his family of charges for distributing political journals and articles by e-mail through a Yahoo message group and later over the Internet anonymously. It also seeks to block Yahoo from similar future actions.

US technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Cisco Systems have drawn mounting criticism after admitting to Congress the policies enabling them to do business in the world's second-largest Internet market, which has at least 130 million users. Google is accused of blocking access to sites that the Chinese government deems sensitive. Cisco Systems has sold China equipment that authorities use to block access to such sites. Yahoo has come under fire for signing a pledge to abide by all censorship laws.

Main Source: LA Times