Yahoo has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought against it on behalf of several Chinese dissidents, according to papers filed in a California court.
Yahoo senior officers were criticised
in a congressional hearing
No details have been given of the settlement but Yahoo will be covering legal costs. The case alleged that Yahoo had provided information to the Chinese government that had then been used to prosecute the dissidents. Yahoo said it had to comply with Chinese laws to operate in the country.
A statement released by the World Organization for Human Rights USA, which brought the case, said Yahoo had decided to settle the case following criticism at a US Congressional hearing on 6 November.
'Inexcusably negligent'
A Congressional panel criticised Yahoo for not giving full details to its probe into the jailing of a reporter by Chinese authorities. Yahoo had been "at best inexcusably negligent" and at worst "deceptive" in evidence given to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last year, the panel said. One journalist cited in the case, Shi Tao, was tracked down and jailed for 10 years for subversion after Yahoo passed on his e-mail and IP address to officials.
He was convicted in 2004 of divulging state secrets after posting online a Chinese government order forbidding media organisations from marking the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Yahoo's original response to the lawsuit acknowledged releasing information to the Chinese government.
But it argued that there was little connection between the information the firm gave and the ensuing arrests and imprisonment of its users.
Michael Callahan, Yahoo's executive vice-president and general counsel, then told a congressional panel in February 2006 that he did not know why the Chinese authorities wanted to trace Shi Tao. Last week, Mr Callahan wrote to the committee admitting that other Yahoo employees had a document saying it was to do with the "suspected illegal provision of state secrets".
Mr Callahan said the information only came to his attention months after he testified.
European Union regulators have launched an in-depth investigation into Google's $3.1bn (£1.5bn) takeover of online advertising firm DoubleClick.
Other advertisers are worried
Google could dominate the internet
The EU Commission said its initial probe had shown the deal would raise competition concerns. It has set itself a deadline of 2 April 2008 to reach a decision. Google said it would work with the Commission to show how the acquisition would benefit publishers, advertisers and consumers. "We seek to avoid further delays that might put us at a disadvantage in competing fully against Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and others whose acquisitions in the highly competitive online advertising market have already been approved," said Google boss Eric Schmidt.
The European Commission is working closely on the case with the US Federal Trade Commission, which has been reviewing the deal since May. Both Google and DoubleClick are involved in online advertising, although they have different roles. DoubleClick helps link up advertising agencies, marketers and web site publishers hoping to put ads online and track them.
Google allows firms to target advertising at people using particular search terms and also stores information about users' internet surfing habits.
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