Below are two letters I have written (one to Google, one to Yahoo!). Use them or your own letter to post/email immediately to the addresses listed. Tell friends to email or write too. At the bottom is also an urgent action from Amnesty to medical professionals to write on behalf of AIDS activist Hu Jia, with all details, letter suggestions, and addresses/email addresses.

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with Google’s decision to launch a censored google.cn, a decision that very clearly disregards company policy and destroys Google’s credibility. According to your mission statement on google.com: "It is a core value for Google that there be no compromising of the integrity of our results." The censorship of Google.cn has now broken a very admirable rule. Furthermore Google’s philosophy notes that: "Our users trust Google's objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust." How can Google breach the trust of Chinese users for the sake of monitary profits?

The decision to censor google.cn is short-sited and ignorant of the conditions in China, where government control on the internet is in fact becoming more and more effective. Technology may be used to achieve Google’s noble vision of ‘making information universal’, but China is proving that it can be used just as easily to block information, and Google is now an active participant in a deplorable vision. China People’s Daily recently announced that users in China who choose to search on google.com will most likely soon be successfully automatically rerouted to results from google.cn.

I urge Google to reconsider the self-censorship of google.cn. That the Chinese government will continue blocking websites like BBC, Amnesty International, and MIT is clear, but Google can choose not to help them "erase" the very existence of these websites from the knowledge of Chinese users.

In a Playboy interview before the launching of google.cn, Mr. Brin very admirably criticized the censorship actions of other international companies that had launched Chinese versions. I ask Google to stick by its values in the face of profits.

Sincerely,

Write to: Dr. Eric Schmidt, C.E.O.; Larry Page, co-founder and president; and/or Sergey Brin, co-founder and president at:

Google Inc. Headquarters
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043 USA

Email: pressATgoogle.com, securityATgoogle.com, bizdevATgoogle.com AT=@

And submit your letter on their online form: http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with Yahoo’s actions in China. I am very dismayed not only at Yahoo's willing censorship of www.yahoo.cn , but also at the illegal handing over of private user account information in the case of at least two Chinese citizens who are now imprisoned for the ‘crime’ of exercising freedom of speech. Yahoo's actions very clearly disregard company policy and destroy Yahoo’s credibility. Yahoo! has violated its only privacy policy and shown itself willing to betray its users for monitary profits. According to your mission statement on yahoo.com, Yahoo! is committed to "winning integrity" and shares "an infectious sense of mission to make an impact on society." Censorship and cooperation with police in violating human rights will never win integrity or positively impact our world.

The decision to censor yahoo.cn and collaborate with Chinese police is short-sited and ignorant of the conditions in China, where government control on the internet is in fact becoming more and more effective.

I urge Yahoo! to reconsider the self-censorship of yahoo.cn. That the Chinese government will continue blocking websites like BBC, Amnesty International, and MIT is clear, but Yahoo can choose not to help them "erase" the very existence of these websites from the knowledge of Chinese users.

Sincerely,

Mail to:  Yahoo! Inc. Headquarters, 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA

Email to: karenmATyahoo-inc.com, mosakoATyahoo-inc.com, kierstenATyahoo-inc.com, nickiATyahoo-inc.com AT=@

Submit your letter online at:

http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/privacy/cgi_feedback   AND

http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/comment.cfm (it doesn't seem to be just for shareholders)

Prominent HIV/AIDS activist Hu Jia went missing on the morning of 16 February. His current whereabouts are unclear, but it is feared that he is detained by the Chinese authorities. His family have contacted various government departments, including the police, to ask where he is detained, but none has admitted holding him.

Hu Jia reportedly suffers from hepatitis B and, according to those close to him, needs to take medication on a daily basis. He has been detained on numerous occasions in the past in connection with his peaceful human rights activities.

Amnesty International urges the Chinese authorities to clarify Hu Jia’s whereabouts. If detained, he should be given access to appropriate medical treatment and released immediately unless he is charged with a recognisable criminal offence.

Several Chinese activists who have supported or participated in a series of protest hunger-strikes since 4 February have been detained by the police or gone missing. The relay hunger-strike protest was started by prominent defence lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who wished to draw attention to recent beatings and detentions of human rights activists and lawyers who sought to defend them.

Gao began by fasting for 48 hours and was quickly joined by others wishing to show their solidarity, who took turns in fasting. Several participants or supporters, including Hu Jia, have reportedly been detained or gone missing.

Hu Jia was also detained by the police on several occasions in 2004 to stop him from publicly commemorating the 15^th anniversary of the 4 June 1989 crackdown. In June 2004, he was held by police in an underground basement. The police reportedly told his family that he would be released immediately if they agreed to sign a statement that Hu Jia had a psychiatric illness. The family refused and Hu Jia was detained for several days.

Hu Jia is the co-founder of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and an outspoken advocate for people with HIV/AIDS; he has publicly criticised the authorities over their treatment of people with AIDS and other issues. He recently resigned from Loving Source, another non-governmental organization he co-founded in 2003 that helps children who have lost parents to AIDS-related illnesses, in order to prevent the authorities from harassing the group. According to Hu Jia, some international donors who helped to fund the operations of the organization withdrew their support to the group under pressure from the Chinese government and its volunteers were intimidated.

Please write to the authorities below, using the following as a guideline:

• Explain that you are a health professional and are writing about the case of Hu Jia, who reportedly went missing on the morning of 16 February:
• Express concern that his whereabouts are unknown and that he reportedly is in need of medical treatment;
• Urging the authorities to clarify his whereabouts, and if detained, to provide him with access to full and appropriate medical care immediately;
• Urging the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Hu Jia unless he is charged with a recognisable criminal offence;
• Urging the authorities to ensure that all human rights defenders in China can carry out their legitimate and peaceful human rights activities without fear of arbitrary detention, harassment or other human rights violations.;
• Invite a response to your letter.

Wen Jiabao Guojia Zongli

The State Council, 9 Xihuangcheng Genbeijie

Beijingshi 100032, People's Republic of China

Fax: + 86 10 65961109 or 2260 (c/o Minister of Foreign Affair)

Email: gazette@mail.gov.cn

Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Public Security

Zhou Yongkang Buzhang

Gong’anbu, 14 Dongchang’anjie

Beijing City 100741, People’s Republic of China

Salutation: Dear Minister

Minister of State Security of the People's Republic of China

XU Yongyue Buzhang

Guojiaanchuanbu

14 Dongchang’anjie

Beijingshi 100741

People's Republic of China

Fax: +86 10 63070952

Salutation: Your Excellency

Please also write to diplomatic representatives of China accredited to your country.

If you receive no reply within six weeks of sending your letter, please send a follow-up letter seeking a response. Please send copies of any letters you receive to the International Secretariat, attention of Health and Human Rights Team.