Boycotting Yahoo!

Over the past several years, Yahoo has aided the Chinese Communist government in capturing "freedom-promoters." Yahoo has turned over draft emails, posts, and IP addresses. Other US-based companies have been accused of such crimes, but none of these companies have acted against the freedom of speech as enthusiastically, cooperatively, and blatantly as Yahoo!

Li Zhi, a 35-year old man from Dazhou ( southwest China), was sentenced on December 10, 2003 for “inciting subversion.” The Yahoo customer was criticizing local officials for their political corruption. Yahoo turned the material over to the Chinese government, and Zhi was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Jiang Lijun, 40, was sentenced to four years in prison on November 18, 2003 for “violent means” to impose democracy. Lijun had called the Chinese government "autocratic", and planned to form a new political party that promoted western-style democracy. In a video, Jiang Lijun exposed Yahoo's collaboration with Chinese officials.

Shi Tao, a 37-year old journalist, was sentenced to ten years in prison on April 30, 2005 for "divulging state secrets abroad”. Tao had spoken out against the government, and exposed threats made against the journalism industry. Yahoo supplied Chinese officials with Tao's identity, texts, and IP address.



There are actually many other cases, but information is sketchy. Dozens of other prisoners may have been arrested due to information provided by Yahoo.

Read more about Yahoo's involvement over the past five years.


Things you can do:

1. Close Your Yahoo Account

Search engines and instant messaging programs profit by their subscribers. The more customers they have, the more money they will get to advertise other products (you see in pop-up ads). The more customers they have, the better their stock numbers will do, and so on and so forth.

Closing your account:

1. Log into the Yahoo! account you are going to cancel.
2. Click the "mail" link.
3. Click on "My Account" on the upper left.
4. You'll have to re-enter your password.
5. Click on "Edit/Create Profiles" on the right.
6. Scroll down and click on "Read our help pages."
7. Scroll down and click on "How do I close my account?"
8. Type in your password at the bottom and click "Yes."


2. Replace Yahoo with the Following Services

Yahoo is used to get free email addresses... very handy. But you can get new email addresses elsewhere, just as easily.

HotMail.com is a service from MSN. It will provide you with new email addresses, inboxes, and other neat stuff.

GMail.com is a great service of Google. This is actually one of the best email providers out there, I already have an account. Gmail has great searching tools ( so you don't have to go through years of emails to find what you are looking for) and plenty of free storage.

Yahoo Instant Messaging is also very popular, but can be replaced easily.

MSN Instant Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and Google Talk are the best replacements. AOL is probably the best and simplest to use. MSN has the most smileys, audibles, and other cool extras. GoogleTalk is awesome for actual talking computer-to-computer ( if you have a mic).

Check them all out... they're free. If you have any questions about them, just ask me.

Finally, the Yahoo Search Engine which some of you may have been using. Believe me, there are many, better search engines out there.

Google is really the best search engine... It also has a good news service that is easily accessible.
MSN is another alternative.


3. Add a "Anti Yahoo" Button to your blog.

Create your own button/banner and link it to this or any other article you want to. It'll catch people's attention and spread the word around the blogosphere.








I found this button on a site somewhere. It's not the best, but if you like it, feel free to use it!

4. Sign the Petition

That's right. On September, 28 2005 a petition was formed against Yahoo.

Read it and sign it here.

If you don't like the petition, send your own letter or email in to Yahoo.

5. Tell People!

Tell your friends, family, church, and neighbors to boycott Yahoo. Blog about what they have done, and what we are doing to prevent it ( or discourage it) from happening again. Send emails, instant messages, telephone calls, Morse code.... :)

Other blogs talking about this:

Mercy Now
From the Pulpit...

Any other blog that does talk about this, I'll link here for others to read.

6. Give Me Feedback!

If you have any other links ( email, instant messaging, or alternative news providers), please show them.

If you have heard other stories about Yahoo's blatant disrespect for people's rights, let us know!

If you have an idea, please come forth....

If you do create a button, please share it with the rest of us.

And, if you have any questions, go ahead and ask them! :)