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U.S. Web giants slammed over China

(CNN) -- The biggest names on the Internet have come under fire from U.S. lawmakers, who say the companies are putting profits before freedom and collaborating with China to suppress dissent.

U.S. lawmakers accused representatives from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Cisco on Wednesday of helping China's government crack down on political unrest by censoring their Web sites, branding their actions "abhorrent" and a "disgrace."

China has 30,000 Internet police who keep track of online activities, and overseas companies have to abide by the nation's rules to operate there.

The lawmakers said U.S. companies have allowed Beijing to use their technologies to censor the Web and crush political dissent.

"Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace," The Associated Press quoted Rep. Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, as saying.

"I simply don't understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night."

Companies operating in China have to satisfy a government that restricts what searchers on the Chinese Internet can see, and what information they have access to -- the trade-off for entry into a lucrative market of some 110 million users.

Some critics say the moves show corporate America doesn't always follow the agenda that the U.S. president George W. Bush espouses: spreading democracy around the world.

Lawmakers at the congressional session highlighted the case of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist who had criticized human rights abuses online. Critics say Yahoo's partner firm Yahoo China helped Chinese police identify him. He was given a 10-year jail term.

Standing up

The companies that have adopted Chinese Internet standards are defending their actions as they vie for a position in the world's fastest growing economy.

But Yahoo's senior vice president Michael Callahan admitted his company was "very distressed" at having to comply with Chinese law, according to AP.

Still, they argue it is better to be in China in a limited fashion, rather than not at all.

"We think the benefits far outweigh the downside, in terms of promoting freedom of expression," AP quoted Microsoft's associate general counsel, Jack Krumholtz, as saying.

China is one of the fastest growing Internet markets in the world. Any company that pulled its service to protest censorship would be at a disadvantage to those that stayed in.

This may be why the major players say they want a collective solution that all would be required to follow.

Microsoft, for one, says it might welcome new government legislation. Google wants to see Chinese censorship be part of the U.S. trade agenda. And Yahoo welcomes a coordinated response among tech firms and the government.

While the tech industry and U.S. government try to find a balance between business and politics, Beijing continues to maintain a hard line.

It says that if Western firms don't play by China's rules, the country will build its own Internet, thereby dividing the worldwide Web.

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