As Congress investigates whether or not Yahoo has inappropriately turned over user information to the Chinese government, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang articulated a convincing argument to deny Yahoo's culpability in the case.
The investigation, which has hurt Yahoo stock, exposes Yahoo of supporting Chinese policies that quell free speech in the attempt to establish a relationship with the emerging superpower. The attention has forced Yang to defend Yahoo's practices.
"Of course Yahoo didn't turn over user information that enabled the Chinese government to jail Chinese journalists that happened to be pro-democracy advocates. Yes, I turned over some information to China, but I found that information on Google," said Yang.
A defensive Yang continued, "Let's be honest, when you need information, you go to Google and not Yahoo. I know Yahoo is not responsible for abusing the privacy of our users because absolutely no one uses Yahoo as a search engine anymore. In fact, to find the information that we might have given to China, I'd have to turn on my Apple IIc computer to look for the files. Yahoo's relevance has diminished so much with time that Color Me Badd was the musical guest at our annual user's conference this past year."
Yang admitted that the only time he has used Yahoo this past year was to play fantasy football, but noted that his team, The Carolina Communists, has been significantly hurt by injuries.
Disclosure: I do not own stock of either Yahoo or Google. I only use Yahoo during the fantasy baseball season.
Noah is the author of Noah Lot More, a satirical blog providing tens of people with instant intelligence. To Noah Lot More than you currently know, check out his site at: http://noahlotmore.blogspot.com