Yahoo! Appeals for Support in Censorship Row

The internet company Yahoo! yesterday sought to blunt criticism of its business practices in China in advance of what is expected to be a grueling hearing in Washington on Wednesday.

In a "statement of beliefs" Yahoo! said it was "deeply concerned" by some governments’ efforts to control access to the web. But it said private firms alone could not bring about change and called on the Bush administration to do more.

The US Congress has summoned Yahoo!, search engine Google, and the technology firms Microsoft and Cisco Systems to a hearing of the house sub-committee on human rights to discuss growing concerns about their bowing to the demands of the Chinese government.

Yahoo! came under fire recently for giving personal information about two of its users to authorities in Beijing, which activists say led to their imprisonment. One of the men, Shi Tao, an outspoken dissident, was jailed for 10 years in April. Google has been criticized after saying it would work alongside Beijing to censor the results of its search engine in China.

In its policy statement, Yahoo! said that doing business in "certain countries presents US companies with challenging and complex questions". The firm said it was concerned by censorship yet also believed it was better to remain in countries such as China to promote openness and reform. The firm said it hoped to work alongside rivals to develop industry-wide policies.

It added: "Private industry alone cannot effectively influence foreign government policy on issues like free exchange of ideas, maximum access to information and human rights reform. We believe continued government-to-government dialogue is vital to achieve progress."

Microsoft unveiled new guidelines this month after it pulled the plug on a popular blogger on its MSN network at the Chinese government’s request. In future, Microsoft said, it would only do so if handed a legally binding request.