Yahoo in China
Assignment #3 Paper on Case 5.1 Yahoo on China
In case 5.1, Yahoo in China, the moral accountability of the American based Tech Company Yahoo is called into question when it provided the personal information of Chinese citizen Shi Tao to Chinese authorities in order in incriminate him. Tao a journalist and democracy advocate posted details on a New York bases forum of the Chinese Government’s plans to hold back a protest. Upon the Chinese Government finding out about this posting, which was not the only source of information about the issue at the time, the State Security Bureau ordered Yahoo to give up the name of the anonymous poster. While companies should be prepared to follow the laws and customs of the countries in which they operate, it is the moral responsibility of the company to protect the information of its customers fairly and equally based on widely accepted social norms.
Yahoo while operating in China chose to abide by the request of the Chinese government to violate the personal information of Tao, and provide them the details of the poster on the forum. It is important to understand that while operating an international company it can be expected that certain cultural norms and laws will not be the same as that of the home country of the company. Yahoo was forced to operate in one of the most sophisticated internet control systems in the world, in which the government highly regulates what can be said and advertised on the web. Yahoo by giving up the personal information of Tao showed that they valued profit over protecting personal information of customers. Congressional Representative Christopher H. Smith stated it plainly by saying that a company that behaves such as Yahoo in this case expresses that the company’s profit has made it, “dull to reality”. While Yahoo was looking at the greater good of their company and profits as well as providing continued service to its customers in China, Utilitarian’s would agree that they had
In case 5.1, Yahoo in China, the moral accountability of the American based Tech Company Yahoo is called into question when it provided the personal information of Chinese citizen Shi Tao to Chinese authorities in order in incriminate him. Tao a journalist and democracy advocate posted details on a New York bases forum of the Chinese Government’s plans to hold back a protest. Upon the Chinese Government finding out about this posting, which was not the only source of information about the issue at the time, the State Security Bureau ordered Yahoo to give up the name of the anonymous poster. While companies should be prepared to follow the laws and customs of the countries in which they operate, it is the moral responsibility of the company to protect the information of its customers fairly and equally based on widely accepted social norms.
Yahoo while operating in China chose to abide by the request of the Chinese government to violate the personal information of Tao, and provide them the details of the poster on the forum. It is important to understand that while operating an international company it can be expected that certain cultural norms and laws will not be the same as that of the home country of the company. Yahoo was forced to operate in one of the most sophisticated internet control systems in the world, in which the government highly regulates what can be said and advertised on the web. Yahoo by giving up the personal information of Tao showed that they valued profit over protecting personal information of customers. Congressional Representative Christopher H. Smith stated it plainly by saying that a company that behaves such as Yahoo in this case expresses that the company’s profit has made it, “dull to reality”. While Yahoo was looking at the greater good of their company and profits as well as providing continued service to its customers in China, Utilitarian’s would agree that they had