From hacker to helper of charities

IT expert using the Internet to aid charities

As a child, Wan Tao admired chivalrous swordsmen from ancient Chinese folklore. They used a blade to fight injustice, and as he grew up Wan found his own weapon to do the same - the Internet.

Wan was an angry young man during his university years and became one of China's first generation of hackers. He founded a group called the Chinaeagle Union, which became known for cyber attacks against foreign websites.

"During my undergraduate period I was so angry about the US and Japan. Those countries had bad relations with China," says Wan, 41, who joined IBM China in 2007 as a senior management consultant.

"I was part of many online anti-America and anti-Japan activities, but then, I felt this cannot solve the real problems we witness every day and I have been to many other countries to experience different cultures. I am no longer as angry as before."

As Wan's anger waned, his life altered. Still heavily involved with the Internet, he decided to do something that could change society using technology and co-founded Yiyun (formerly called Neteasy), which means "cloud of social benefit", in Beijing, with the aim of providing technical support for charity organizations across China.

According to Tao Chuanjin, director of the Research Center of Philanthropy and Social Enterprise at Beijing Normal University, "In the past, people expected the government, or government-funded organizations, to take care of public welfare and charity. But the (2008) earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan province and the scandal of Guo Meimei changed people's attitudes."

Guo Meimei posted pictures of her extravagant lifestyle online and claimed to be general manager of a company called Red Cross Commerce. Guo and the Red Cross later denied any ties to each other.

"Guo Meimei's case caused a loss of support for organizations like the Red Cross Society of China, because people became concerned about corruption," says Tao.

"The Wenchuan earthquake stimulated a public desire to help strangers. People began to think and wanted to get involved in social charity activities personally."

The result of this was that non-governmental organizations took on a greater role. On Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, there are millions of posts appealing for donations to a wide range of causes including children from poor families and patients with rare diseases.

Fully aware of the power of the Internet, Wan has turned that might toward helping charities.

"For ordinary people and companies that want to do something for charity, we make it easier to participate or organize activities," Wan says.

One of his projects deals with social welfare advertisements. His company offers a paragraph of code which can be included in a blog or website and generates social welfare advertisements on the site.

For companies, his team offers technical support and IT solutions.

Wan is also the director of IBM's volunteer teams in the north of China and Yiyun provides volunteer management software to IBM, Canon and other companies.