Hong Kong's privacy commission cleared Yahoo Hong Kong of any liability for sharing a mainland journalist's email account with China's State Security Bureau, the Wall Street Journal reported. In his report Wednesday, Privacy Commissioner Roderick Woo said there was insufficient evidence to hold Yahoo liable under Hong Kong privacy laws but called on the city's government to clarify whether these laws apply when events occur outside of Hong Kong. Foreign internet companies sometimes use Hong Kong as a base for their mainland Chinese operations but have also defended their cooperation with mainland law enforcers, which critics say abuses the privacy of their users. The incident has raised protest against Yahoo and its business practices in China that reached its peak during congressional hearings in February 2006, in which Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Cisco gave testimony about information-sharing and other practices in China.
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