Cisco Systems, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo officials were grilled yesterday during a Congressional hearing for their role in helping the Chinese authorities keep a tight lid on the internet revolution that's coming to a boil in a market with vast potential for serving up plenty of corporate profits. The chairman of a House subcommittee dealing with human rights and international operations, Christopher Smith (R-NJ), called it a "sickening collaboration" that was "decapitating the voice of the dissidents," writes the New York Times. The gruesome AlQaeda-inspired imagery aside, the gang of four executives representing the tech companies (see adjacent AP photo) in part acknowledged the concerns of their critics.

They insisted, however, that their presence in China resulted in a net benefit for the Chinese population - and suggested that the U.S. government itself could do more than the companies to promote human rights reform abroad.

Rep Robert Wexler (D-FL) considered whether Congress shares blame for having granted China trade status as a most-favored nation.

In response, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-DA) resorted to the "he made me do it" argument: "Most favored nation status?" he said, "Who lobbied for that? Come on. The corporations did."