HONG KONG, March 14 (UPI) -- Yahoo!'s Hong Kong unit did not violate privacy laws that led to the conviction of a Chinese reporter, Hong Kong authorities said Wednesday.
Two years ago, journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison based in part on his e-mails and other personal data that criticized the government, which then were handed over to the mainland Chinese police.
Lawmaker Albert Ho subsequently filed a complaint last year claiming that the U.S.-based Internet provider's Hong Kong subsidiary complied with the authorities to hand over the journalist's private correspondence that led to Shi Tao's imprisonment.
But in Wednesday's ruling, Hong Kong's privacy commissioner said there was insufficient evidence to prove that Yahoo! did indeed collaborate with the police.
"This is a case where data was collected in mainland China about a mainland Chinese resident," said Commissioner Roderick Woo.
For its part, Yahoo! issued a statement saying that "Yahoo! Hong Kong maintains a high quality online environment for our users and takes user privacy very seriously."
