Congress jumps into the fray

The US Congress has started an investigation into the new Google, MSN, Yahoo policies in China. Interestingly enough, Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that the ball is in the government’s court:

Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Yahoo! were yesterday roundly condemned for “collaborating with China to censor the internet”, Reuters reports. During a briefing by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, representative Tim Ryan said: “They should not let profits take precedence over traditional democratic values such as freedom of speech.”

Microsoft and Yahoo! issued a joint press statement which demanded US government intervention in the matter: “We urge the United States government to take a leadership role in this regard and have initiated a dialogue with relevant US officials to encourage such government-to-government engagement. [More…]The Register