A Chinese dissident is in jail thanks to Yahoo and now his wife is suing the Internet company. The case provides insight into the ethical nature of companies like Yahoo, and how they don&8217;t follow the standards of true news organizations.

The Chinese government gave Wang Xiaoning a 10-year sentence for postings he made in a Yahoo group. Chinese authorities asked Yahoo to identify the author of the postings and Yahoo complied.

Yu Ling, his wife, brought the case under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act in the District Court for Northern California. The World Organization for Human Rights backs her case.

Though people can find news, sports and commentary on Yahoo, don&8217;t expect the company to act like a typical news agency. When a newspaper grants confidentiality, you can count on it. As a low-profile example, there have been times when people ask for more information on letter writers than what we publish in our newspaper. We turn those requests away. As a high-profile example, newspapers fight for strong shield laws so they can protect their sources, as the Mankato Free Press continues to do with the case resulting from the Amboy standoff.

When users create Yahoo profiles, they can determine what is private and what is public. That makes users feel as though Yahoo will keep private the information users want private.

Yahoo, Google and Microsoft have been criticized by Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders for working with the Chinese government and its restrictions on speech and press. If the Internet companies expect to maintain the trust of the online communities they host, they need to learn a thing or two about public trust from newspapers.