Yahoo! Roundly Criticized in Congress

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• Nobody at Yahoo has been disciplined for providing false information to Congress. Key employees related to the provision of false information to Congress remain at their posts.

• Yahoo had no means or, possibly, intent, to prevent Yahoo! China from being a willing participant in political witch-hunts emanating from Beijing. Yahoo! Inc. had no American lawyers in Beijing. There was no mechanism in place for Yahoo headquarters to review Chinese efforts to ferret out individuals who wish to see a more open and democratic China.

• A company of Yahoo!'s resources and sophistication operating in the Chinese milieu should have taken every conceivable step to prevent the automatic compliance with a request from the Chinese police apparatus. And to this day, Yahoo! has failed to change any of its practices in order to prevent such collaboration in the future. Yahoo! Inc. is now a minority shareholder in Yahoo! China. But one of our witnesses today — CEO Jerry Yang—sits on the Board of Alibaba, the parent company of Yahoo! China. If Chinese police today requested information from Yahoo! China related to a political dissident, Yahoo! China would turn over the individual's email records and identity, who might be subsequently sent to prison, perhaps for ten long years.

My colleagues, I do not deliver these conclusions lightly. High-tech companies like Yahoo! are enormously important to the American economy, as well as the global economy, and they have transformed the way in which information is conveyed worldwide.

That said, I do not believe that America's best and brightest companies should be playing integral roles in China's notorious and brutal political repression apparatus. I will ask our witnesses today, in light of these embarrassing and appalling facts, whether Yahoo! is now prepared to endorse legislation authored by congressman Chris Smith and approved by this Committee to ensure that American complicity with high-tech repression ends.

It should be self-evident that companies cannot get away with providing false information to Congress. So today, I call on Yahoo's top corporate executives to apologize to this Committee, the Congress of the United States, and the American people.

But first and foremost, I urge our two witnesses to face the family of the Chinese journalist who, as a result of Yahoo's actions, has been tossed into a Chinese prison. When he first appeared before this Committee, I asked Mr. Callahan whether he had reached out to Shi Tao's family to offer an apology and to provide assistance. The answer was a resounding "no." Fifteen months later, Yahoo has yet to provide any aid to Shi Tao's family. Mr. Yang, Mr. Callahan, Shi Tao's mother is sitting in the first row right behind you—I would urge you to beg the forgiveness of the mother whose son is languishing behind bars due to Yahoo's actions.