In each and every society there are laws that govern it. The case of China is a reflection of how care should be taken before revealing some of the information requested by some governments. Non-disclosure of such information should therefore be the best solution in such a scenario.
The fact that no one knows for sure what the intention of any government that asks such information will do after getting the information from Yahoo should ensure caution is taken. It would therefore be wise of any organization to uphold the freedom of expression among its customers as a protective measure of the service users.
To start with, as earlier noted there is lack of knowledge of what the government will do with the information got from the service provider. In this case, revealing of the name led to the harassment of the journalist and even a prison sentence (Tran, 2007). Acquiesce of such information may also lead to trust issues between the company with its clients. The thought by the clients that any information that they may share with their friends may be revealed to the government may limit them to using the services of the company.
In turn, this may lower the value of the shares of company, which means lower turnover. Any competitor that may come along with a freedom of expression policy may therefore have an upper hand on the control of the market due to trust issues that are caused by giving out of information. If Yahoo decides to submit such information this will be a bad record set by the organization.
The reasoning behind this is the fact that governments may take the opportunity to keep in check of the views that are not favorable to them. The freedom of expression, which is widely supported all over the world, will therefore be compromised due to one decision by Yahoo. The organization may also find it hard to resist revealing of such information in future due to the tread they may set.
Giving out of such information will also lead to a company becoming an organization that is easily manipulated by governments that the organization is operating in. Giving out of such information would also lead to the Yahoo being used as an instrument by governments to drive out any rebellions that the governments may be undergoing through.
Also notable is the fact that the freedom of expression will be compromised due to such a move to share information with any government. The relationship between the government of China may translate to one that has conditions. The conditions contained in this relationship are that they have to keep on providing certain information whenever required. Such a climate is not what the organization needs when running its activities in a given region.
The case of the government China requesting the information from Yahoo and getting it reveals some of the issues that arise due to doing business globally. Some governments are so protective of what is said about them and would do anything to ensure they are in control of information that discredits them (Tran, 2007). Another issue that arises in this scenario is the issue of freedom of expression. Though the human rights organizations highlight on the need to have it in our societies, it is not always upheld in some societies.
A good example is in this case where people of China are deprived this right. The solution to this problem would be to have international laws that govern business that are in operation globally. Clearly, not every society upholds some of the values that may be considered common to every society. It would only be fair to organizations operating globally to be protected in their operations with values that are deemed fair to them in which ever region they wish to peruse their interests.
To sum up, organization disclosure of information to the government or any other authority is usually detrimental to it. The uses of the services provided by Yahoo or any other organization that offers the same services are usually confident, that the organization will not share such information. No wonder each user gets to choose a password and user name that personalizes their accounts.
It would therefore be unfair to them to know that though there are such measures that are protective of the information they share, the organization goes on their back and share it with other people. As evident in this case, acquiesce of such information may lead to undesirable actions being taken against individuals who share this information.
It is also evident that the problem also affects the organizations when trust issues by the users of the services arise. The fact that people were willing to sell Yahoo shares due to their action is a clear indication of how the effect of the action of revealing some information may be of great effect (Tran, 2007). Finally, the fate of the journalist who was unveiled by Yahoo led to his torture, whether knowingly or unknowingly, Yahoo shares the responsibility of what came of their actions.
Reference
Tran, M. (2007). Yahoo! sued over disclosure of Chinese citizens’ identities. Web.