Limit freedom to do evil abroad

[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Jacob Weisberg, Slate.com]
[Commentary] Bill Gates recently suggested, an other tech companies seem to be interested in, a legislative fix to the problem of censorship and doing business in China. Such a law would enjoin US companies from assisting in the violation of human rights in China and elsewhere. American companies would not be prevented from selling equipment and services in unfree countries, but rather stopped from tailoring their products to work as tools of tyranny. Well-drawn restrictions could ease the predicament of US companies by, as Mr Gates says, making clear what they cannot do. An anti-repression law would give Yahoo a ready answer the next time Chinese officials demand evidence against cyber-dissidents. We must obey your laws, the American representatives would be able to respond. But we must obey our laws as well.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/54eaa1ee-a3d8-11da-83cc-0000779e2340.html
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See also --
* China shuts conservative Web sites amid reform debate
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-02-23T090209Z_01_PEK205279_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-CHINA-WEBSITES.xml