Selling Freedom Out

This week I saw clear evidence that many Internet companies believe freedom is up for sale. Google has decided to filter search results from China to comply with censorship laws imposed by that communist regime. Yahoo turn over emails from a Chinese user's account that caused that person to receive a 10-year prison sentence. Microsoft also vowed to Beijing and filters search results on MSN. All this censorship is being justified in the name of commerce. China has a large population and everyone is trying to get a piece of that market pie. But at what price? Are Google and Yahoo and others selling their souls in the process? It is ironic that one communist country is still able to suppress freedom and push their immoral mandates into the international winds. It is sad that large companies like Google lack the backbone to stand against this atrocity, acting like a Judas that justifies a hideous crime and receives a few coins. Benjamin Franklin said that "The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either." The same holds true of the entities that trade freedom for money.