Yahoo!'s Flip-Flop on Venue

Back in the year 2000, Yahoo was sued (and lost) in a French court. The judgment ordered Yahoo! to pull out Nazi memorabilia, prohibited by French law, from its auction site. Yahoo! was up in arms over the decision, saying that:

"Yahoo.com is not doing anything unlawful. It is completely complying with the law of the country in which it operates and where its target audience is," he said.

"Yahoo auctions in the U.S. are ruled by the legal, moral and cultural principles of that country."

Fast forward to today. Yahoo! is now being sued in the U.S. court for selling out one of its subscribers to be arrested and tortured by the Chinese government. Yahoo! is now singing a different tune, playing the citizen of the world and moving for a dismissal of the U.S. case and urging a shift of venue - to China.

It's not true that the Internet is this inherently un-regulate-able utopia. Government power and corporate interests can converge to produce what in fact could be the most regulated space in history. We can't sit back and trust the network's architecture alone to protect our rights. Just as in the real world, our rights online is something we have to stay vigilant about.