Yahoo boss faced with Nazi question

YAHOO boss Terry Semel got the "question from hell" from media hacks as he tried to justify his company's turning over data to the Chinese authorities.

Speaking at the All Things Digital conference, Semel said that the rationale for collaborating with Chinese authorities in ways that result in sending non-violent political protestors to long jail sentences was that he was "simply a businessman following local laws".

Then same hack asked would Yahoo have helped Nazi Germany in the same way.

Semel didn't pause. He said that he didn't feel good about what's happening in China today. But then again he didn't feel good about some of the things that happen in the US either.

He said that it was "not Yahoo collaborating. It's Yahoo's majority partner". That argument didn't work for IBM, when it was sued by Romanies for supplying gear that made the holocaust more efficient.

When asked again if he would collaborate the same way with the Nazis, Semel said he didn't know how he would have felt then.

More here. µ