Business Channel 2007-08-30&09-01, 雅虎搜索事件

Scripts:
Host: The internet search giant Yahoo is fighting a high profile lawsuit¹ which accuses the company of helping² suppress free speech in China. Yahoo is asking a US federal judge to throw this censorship case out of court. Of more on this, we are joined now by Nick Thompson. He is a senior editor at Wired magazine. And there's just a little bit more background for this story. Yahoo is being accused of handing over information to the Chinese government which led to the arrest of two dissidents. Now looking at Yahoo’s position, they are saying we have to abide³ by Chinese laws. Isn’t that a fair point?

Editor: It is a fair point and I think it’s gonna be one of the central points in the case if you read their motion to dismiss. Their central argument is, as they say, we can’t be asked, much less compelled to violate the laws of a country in which we operate.

H: But there are also US laws. Are there not, that, sort of forbid this sort of behavior? I mean, Should there be some sort of recalls to the US courts for this at all?

E: Right, and so that’s what the plaintiffs are arguing.They are arguing that there are two major US statutes⁵. The Alien Tort Statute⁴ and the Torture Victim Protection Act. And they say, look, the US has agreed with all these treaties, the US agrees that it must follow some sort of international law and international human rights standards and that’s more important than the particular laws in the country in which these companies operate. So they are saying, you have to appeal to a higher law; Yahoo is saying, hey, we just have to deal with China's laws.

H: And Yahoo is being slightly hypocritical about this, isn't it? Because it was fined by a French court a couple of years ago, because it allowed people to trade Nazi⁶ memorabilia on its auction⁷ site, and it turned to the US to get that French decision overturned .So there is a bit of hypocrisy⁸ going on here , isn’t there?

E: Oh, there is absolutely hypocrisy. I mean another argument that Yahoo makes and Yahoo defenders⁹ make is that, overall, the benefit of Yahoo is good. They allow people to communicate through the Internet which will actually help, eventually bring democracy to China. So they are saying that overall, the benefits outweigh¹⁰ the cost. The other important legal argument that we haven’t touched on is, Yahoo is saying" Look, these people might have been tortured. But Yahoo didn’t torture them. If you wanna sue somebody, sue the government of China.'' And that’s another important legal claim that I think will affect the way this case turns out.

H: Is there suggestion that Yahoo handed more information over them was necessary?

E: Oh, absolutely. So what the plaintiffs are saying is they actually weren't compelled to do almost anything. They think it was more like Yahoo sort of was trying to ingratiate itself, or lower level employees at Yahoo wanted to do somebody a favor. So they gave a whole bevy¹¹ of information. They gave IP addresses; they gave actual E-mails; they gave tons of stuff to China.

H: It’s not just , I'd see, the legal implications here, it's also the court of public opinion, isn’t it? And I wonder how this could affect Yahoo’s business?

E: Oh, I think it’s terrible for yahoo. My personal instinct is that they’ll probably win the case. It depends on the judge who handles the next stage, but their legal arguments are pretty strong. But the question of how this affects the way we look at Yahoo? I think there’s gonna be a very big hit to the company because of this. Each time this plays out, the company looks worse and worse. Because what they did, whether it was legal or whether it was illegal, certainly doesn't seem like the right thing to have done.

H: And can people or would people migrate to Google, coz they have had their own issues with China as well?

E: Well, people will certainly migrate to Google, Google things are a little different, google's are things of omission¹² not commission. What google does is it sets up its search engine in China, so that you can’t search for certain terms. If you type in “human rights” in Google China, you get different results, if you type from what you get if you type in “human rights” in Google America. But that’s quite different from sending information on a particular dissident and then having him get arrested and tortured.

H: So if Google were asked to do the same thing, would it under Chinese law be compelled to do so?

E: Well, it might well be compelled under Chinese law to do so, and then Google would have to decide whether it wants to follow along with that particular Chinese law? Or whether it wants to say'' Hey, we are an American company. We have to follow these international standards and then let's make China, see what China does next.

H: En, fascinating,and this one will really sort of shape the future of the moral question here, won't it?

E: Oh, It is an incredibly interesting moral question. What do American companies do in places like China, where they are probably aiding and abetting¹³ censorship which is one of the things the Internet is supposed to help break down. It’s a marvelous question.

H: Nick Thompson ,senior editor with Wired. Thank you so much for joining us.
E: Thanks a lot for having me here.

Notes:

Aid and abet: help, assist, or facilitate

1 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

4 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

5 statutes   

成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程

参考例句：

• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Each agency is also restricted by the particular statutes governing its activities. 各个机构的行为也受具体法令限制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

7 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

8 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

9 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

11 bevy   

n.一群

参考例句：

• A bevy of bathing beauties appeared on the beach.沙滩上出现了一群游泳的美女。
• Look,there comes a bevy of ladies.看，一群女人来了。

12 omission   

n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长

参考例句：

• The omission of the girls was unfair.把女孩排除在外是不公平的。
• The omission of this chapter from the third edition was a gross oversight.第三版漏印这一章是个大疏忽。

13 abetting   

v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的现在分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持

参考例句：

• On Earth, unknowingly abetting a criminal doesn't merit this kind of punishment. 在地球上，不知不觉地帮助罪犯并不构成这种惩罚。 来自电影对白
• "By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder." 援助和唆使谋杀的塔利班政权与杀人犯同罪。 来自互联网