I was a bit surprised to learn from this story that a journalist in China was sentenced to jail for ten years after Chinese authorities requested a personal e-mail from Yahoo!. The e-mail was produced and subsequently handed over to Chinese authorities.

Yahoo! Is active in China and is trying to get a percentage of the Chinese market to use its various services.

That leads me to why anyone living in China would want to use an e-mail provider who actually has an office in China. I would imagine using an e-mail provider in another country where China has no authority would be smarter.

I would imagine the same holds true for any country. My tip of the day is “if you are a political dissident or think you might be nabbed by a regime who is trying to keep a lid on lots of sensitive information – like spreading democracy, try to find an e-mail provider who is located in a country that just doesn’t get along with yours.”

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Yahoo earlier defended its move, saying it was obliged to comply with Chinese laws and regulations.

The demand for the information was a "legal order" and Yahoo! gets such requests from law enforcement agencies all the time, and not just in China, Yang told the forum.

But he added, "I cannot talk about the details of this case."

Other Chinese journalists have faced similar charges of violating vague security laws as communist leaders struggle to maintain control of information in the burgeoning Internet era.

Despite government information sharing requirements and other restrictions, Yahoo and its major rivals have been expanding their presence in mainland China in hopes of reaching more of the country's fast-growing population of Internet users, which now number more than 100 million