Yahoo Chief Questioned on Chinese Journalist

The chief executive and general counsel of Yahoo Inc. faced more than three hours of — at times — withering criticism from lawmakers yesterday for the company's role in the imprisonment of at least one dissident in China.

Appearing before a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the two were questioned intensely about the circumstances under which Yahoo China, then a unit of the company, handed information in 2004 about a Yahoo user, journalist Shi Tao, to Chinese authorities.

Shi was subsequently jailed for 10 years, where he remains today.

Not only did the company willingly hand over information about Mr. Shi, lawmakers said, but Yahoo's general counsel, Michael Callahan, provided incorrect information to Congress when testifying about the matter in 2006.

Then, in October 2006, upon discovering the extent to which Yahoo was in fact aware of the specific nature of the Chinese government order, Mr. Callahan compounded the situation by failing to let Congress know his earlier testimony was incorrect.