The Human Rights Caucus of the U.S. Congress complained about alleged censorship in China by Microsoft, cisco, Google, and Yahoo!, as noted by fergie’s tech blog. Microsoft and Yahoo! took more or less the same position Google has been taking, that business in China isn’t business as usual and doing business there at all promotes free expression in China.

Meanwhile, two women were removed from the House Chamber the other night for wearing shirts with writing on them, one saying Support Our Troops, the other noting how many of them had died. The latter was handcuffed and arrested. The House police later admitted she broke no law and apologized, which is more than China does, and of course we’re talking a great difference in scale. So the House Caucus of course has a point ( wish I’d thought of it) even though it would come off better if they’d keep their own house in better order.

A hearing by an actual House subcommittee is expected in a few weeks. Clearly aiding government censorship can have political consequences, which means it is a business risk. Let’s just hope these hearings stay on that track and don’t veer off into reccomending greater U.S. government control of the Internet or further consolidation of Internet ownership by fewer firms.

-jsq