If you are planning on leaking sensitive information about a repressive regime ...

Make sure you don't use a Yahoo! email account to do it.

Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong), it transpires, handed over to Chinese authorities details of an email address belonging to Shi Tao, a 37-year-old journalist working for the Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Business News) in China. That piece of information connected Shi to the leak of a government memo warning of possible undrest leading up to the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen square massacre.

Shi was convicted of passing 'top secret' material and is now in prison.

Yahoo! says its hands were tied, what with it being obliged to comply by Chinese law when operating in China, and all.

Yahoo! has already demonstrated its commitment to compliance with Chinese law by signing the snappily titled Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the China Internet Industry, a code of conduct for online business to help internet.cn develop in a 'healthy and orderly' fashion.

I suppose if I had just stumped up more than 1 billion dollars cash, I'd probably want my investment to proceed in a healthy and orderly fashion too.