Yahoo! Speaks

Yahoo! is being criticized now that it has sided with Google against China after keeping quiet about former hacker attacks it had full knowledge of. “Yahoo knew it had been a target of sophisticated Chinese cyber attacks on U.S. firms before Google alerted the company to them, but remained silent while its bigger rival went public, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters. Yahoo’s Chinese partner, e-commerce firm Alibaba Group, in which it owns a 40 percent stake, nonetheless called ‘reckless’ Yahoo’s comment last week that it stood aligned with Google’s positions. Meanwhile, a Google spokeswoman on Saturday denied Chinese online reports that it has already decided to shut down its google.cn site. ‘Alibaba Group has communicated to Yahoo! that Yahoo’s statement that it is ‘aligned’ with the position Google took last week was reckless given the lack of facts in evidence,’ the firm said in a statement on Saturday. Yahoo said Wednesday it stood aligned with Google’s position that attacks on company networks are deeply disturbing and that violation of Internet user privacy is something that must be opposed.”