Yahoo! can spin it any way they want. The facts remain that someone is in jail in a Human-Rights-deficient country (and that ain't no pleasure cruise) AND Yahoo! lied about the whole thing to the face of the entire world.

I am not about to believe that there was any "misunderstanding". People at that level do not "misunderstand", they have hours of meetings and employ scores of specialists to be sure that they understand very well.

Besides, it's rather simple : if there really was a "misunderstanding", then the CEO needs to resign immediately because he is incapable of understanding what is happening to the company.
That is not the kind of leadership a publicly listed company needs.

So, Yahoo! is being slapped for following the laws of a country they are doing business in. Are global corporations supposed to selectively break laws based on what the US Congress deems righteous?

I wonder, would Congress praise Yahoo! if they refused to hand over the identity of a suspected terrorist to FBI/CIA/whoever without warrant as per the Patriot Act?

When it comes to ethics, Yahoo! does not seem to be too picky. China, again - the US web giant finds nothing wrong profiting from the international shark fin trade. Have a look:

http://www.1440wallstreet.com/index.php/comments/shark_fin_soup/

Wolfgang Leander, Cochabamba / Bolivia