Congressman Quizzes Net Companies on Shame

mjdroner writes "Cnet has a transcript of the House of Representatives hearing on net censorship with Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Yahoo reps. At one point, Rep. Tom Lantos asks if Microsoft is ashamed of their actions in China. Microsoft: 'We comply with legally binding orders whether it's here in the U.S. or China.' Lantos: 'Well, IBM complied with legal orders when they cooperated with Nazi Germany. Those were legal orders under the Nazi German system.'"

Comments

Tom Lantos

[kcurtis]

In general, I would agree with you. However, you are off base on this one because it was Tom Lantos making these statements. He is a HUGE champion of freedom (true freedom, not freedom unless it hurts a corporation). I have taken the liberty of doing a cut & paste of part of his online biography:

An American by choice, Tom Lantos was born in Budapest, Hungary, on February 1, 1928. He was 16 years of age when Nazi Germany occupied his native country. As a teenager, he was placed in a Hungarian fascist forced labor camp. He succeeded in escaping and was able to survive in a safe house in Budapest set up by Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg. His story is one of the individual accounts which forms the basis of Steven Spielberg's Academy Award winning documentary about the Holocaust in Hungary, The Last Days.

Say what you will about most Congressmen, Senators and the President, but complaints about MFT and coddling those commie bastards doen't apply to Rep. Lantos.

Re:Tom Lantos

[kcurtis]

He is a Democrat. Democrats cannot hold hearings because they are in the minority at present.

He has called for hearings on many human rights issues, including Guantanamo Bay. Do you really think the Republicans will allow any hearings into China, Gitmo or Iraq?

Re:Perhaps you should learn who Tom Lantos is

[kcurtis]

He does what he can. He is a Democrat in a Congress with Republican majorities in both houses. He cannot hold hearings. He cannot force subpoenas. All he can do is vote, and make noise when given a stage. He did so, and did it well.

He has held unofficial hearings outside Congress, but they have no power and get no press.

When the Democrats held control, Lantos was at the forefront of the human rights movement that was reflected in official policy. Today he has no such power.

So he is doing what he can, in the forums he has access to, and I applaud him for it.

No, you're wrong

[flyinwhitey]

After doing quite a bit of research, I discovered two things.

First, there is no "U.S. Code" (I assume you mean federal law) governing corporate profits.

Second, virtually every state has a law that DOES require maximizing profits.

http://blj.ucdavis.edu/article/533/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_resp onsibility
http://www.business-ethics.com/resources/article_c orporatelaw.html

Each of these links add information, but because the laws are specific to each state, I'm not going to look them up for you.

Regardless, the point is clear.