Yahoo has responded to Google's move yesterday to end censorship in China after discovering a series of attacks that compromised the accounts of human rights activists. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo said it would back Google's decision.

"We stand aligned that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose," said Yahoo. The company didn't mention whether it was also targeted in the attacks discovered by Google.

It's worth noting that Yahoo sold its Chinese operation to Alibaba.com in 2005, but maintains a 39% financial stake in the company. Microsoft launched a Chinese version of Bing last June, and said there is no indication that any of its mail properties have been compromised.