The "Great Firewall"

China | Big-name corporations kowtow to censors; “hacktivists” are finding new ways in | Mark Bergin

The preface to Google's corporate code of conduct opens with the company's informal motto: "Don't be evil." But last month, the House Committee on International Relations impugned the righteousness of Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Yahoo for contributing to the "Great Firewall of China." Democratic congressman Tom Lantos of California, a Holocaust survivor and longtime human-rights advocate, scolded the darlings of U.S. technology for capitulating to internet censorship requirements, calling the practice "abhorrent" and questioning "how your corporate executives sleep at night." With more than 80 journalists and bloggers now in jail for trespassing the Chinese firewall, it's a fair question.