The Chinese government and American new-media giant Yahoo made headlines this week as heated testimony on Capitol Hill seemed to confirm that the two conspired to attack free speech. The hearings centered on the fact that the mammoth internet service provider turned over journalist Shi Tao’s online account information to Chinese jailers three years ago this month. As a result, Shi Tao was arrested and sentenced to ten years for writing anonymously from his Yahoo account about the government’s plans to suppress commemoration of the famous Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989.

At the hearing, Chairman Tom Lantos of California called Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan “moral pygmies” for complying with the Chinese government’s request for Tao’s information. Lantos along with other U.S. lawmakers, human rights activists and free speech advocates are outraged by the company’s actions. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey compared the actions to those of businesses that cooperated with the Nazis during World War II.

Lantos told CNN that he “didn’t believe that America’s best and brightest companies should be playing integral roles in China’s notorious and brutal political repression apparatus.” He also called on Yang and Callahan to apologize to Tao’s mother.

Tao attracted the attention of government snoops when, under a pseudonym, he posted at Asia Democracy Forum about the Chinese government’s restrictions on the media and its corralling of democracy activists. He was charged with “illegal provision of state secrets,” a charge commonly leveled against political dissenters.

Yang and Callahan baldly claimed not to understand how Chinese officials would use the information against Tao. They said their employees were justified in yielding to the Chinese government’s request because it came in the form of a “subpoena-looking” document.

Most everyone not paid by Yahoo, however, points to the company’s dealings in China as the obvious explanation. Yahoo owns a 40 percent share of Alibaba.com, China’s biggest e-commerce firm.

Just as worrying though is the notion that Yahoo doesn’t have protocol firmly established to safeguard against free speech prosecutions for their users—in the U.S. or abroad.

At the Congressional hearings Callahan admitted that the company is working to avoid turning over user information to governments in future Yahoo markets such as Vietnam.

Future markets? Yahoo lawyers are probably working long hours sealing those deals. But what are they doing for Shi Tao? Why should he pay the price for Yahoo’s global expansion?

Image: Shi Tao’s mom at Tuesday’s Congressional hearing.

Tags: jerry yang, michael callahan, shi tao, tom lantos, yahoo