Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Beijing next week to discuss a wide range of political issues with senior Chinese officials. With deep appreciation for the power of diplomacy and government-to-government engagement on human rights issues, we believe we have a window of opportunity for freedom. Yesterday, Jerry sent a letter to Secretary Rice urging the State Department’s continued assistance in securing the release of Shi Tao, Wang Xiaoning, and other political dissidents imprisoned for expressing their views online.

I’ve sat with Jerry at the State Department, meeting with senior government officials, as he’s pressed for continued government assistance in advocating for the release of dissidents. Over the past two years, legal and policy executives at Yahoo! have met with NGO’s to discuss strategies for securing the release of political dissidents. We’ve also met with senior Chinese officials and asked directly for the release of Mr. Shi and Mr. Wang. We understand our responsibilities, and we take them with the utmost seriousness. We also recognize the practical limits of corporate diplomacy, especially next to the powerful advocacy tools available to governments. We believe governments have the most leverage to influence the decision-making of other governments.

The stakes – personal freedom – are high for those unfairly imprisoned and for their families. This is one reason we’ve established a Human Rights Fund to provide humanitarian and legal support for these dissidents, as well as for their families. The Fund will be administered by noted dissident Harry Wu – who spent nineteen years in a Chinese labor camp – through his Laogai Research Foundation. The Fund will also support the Foundation’s educational efforts on human rights. We also hope to stimulate new research to advance the cause of free expression and privacy globally, and we’ve established international fellowships at Stanford and Georgetown Universities to promote the pursuits of journalists from press-restrictive countries and scholars exploring the link between global values, the Internet, and communication technologies.

We’ve also engaged with industry peers, human rights groups, socially responsible investors, and academics, working to develop a broad-based response to the challenges of restrictions on free expression and privacy globally. At Yahoo!, we’re fully committed. The positive partnership — facilitated by Business for Social Responsibility and the Center for Democracy & Technology — makes us optimistic about the development of guiding principles and operational standards, for companies in our sector and eventually beyond, that will allow us to continue making profits with principle. The windows of opportunity are before us for collective action to advance industry standards and for government action to help win the freedom of dissidents imprisoned simply for expressing their views online. Jerry and all of us at Yahoo! are hopeful Secretary Rice’s leadership, diplomacy, and advocacy next week in Beijing will help secure the release of Shi Tao, Wang Xiaoning, and others in China.

Michael Samway
VP & Deputy General Counsel