High-tech tyranny

It's being described as high-tech tyranny. Two internet search giants, Yahoo and MSN, have signed up to the latest attempts by China to censor and control the blogs of online users.

They've also agreed to provide hardware to make it easier for government surveillance online.

It's not the first time Yahoo has collaborated with the Chinese government.

Yahoo has admitted it's been handing online users' information over to Beijing for years.

Rights groups say China then uses that information to imprison and torture scores of dissidents.

Yahoo says it is just obeying local laws.

That doesn't wash with the World Organisation for Human Rights (USA). It's now suing Yahoo on behalf of jailed Chinese dissidents.

Morton Sklar heads the organisation's American office. He spoke with Fran Kelly, presenter of ABC Radio National's Breakfast program, from Washington this morning - here.

Meanwhile, an article backgrounding the issue can be read, here, on the organisation's web site.

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