The Great Firewall of China

Congress is shocked, shocked! to discover that some American businesses are aiding and abetting human rights violations in China.

The heads and legal counsels of Google, Micorsoft and other Tech companies were called in to answer before the Human Rights Commision and 'splain why they rigorously fight any hint of Internet censorship here in the States, but quickly bow to China's demands for censorship and the search records of anyone deemed an enemy of the state.

These Tech companies shouldn't be helping round up pro-democracy activists or censoring Web sites about Falun Gong. That's clearly wrong, no matter how good it might be for business. But why has Congress suddenly decided to go after them when it has given China "Most Favored Nation" trading status for years despite the clearly documented human rights abuses in China?

Google can't turn over the search records of Chinese activists or censor search results or blogs, but a whole host of American manufacturers can employ sweatshop labor under unsafe conditions while feeding the coffers of a communist dictatorship by driving their economy -- and destroying the environment, to boot.

I suppose it merely depends on the degree to which one helps violate universal human rights. Congress must have a distinction between passively benefitting from human suffering and actively causing it.