John Battelle wonders why “Yahoo and Microsoft can go into China no problem, but once Google does, then the US Congress gets into the act.” He points to a Financial Times piece reporting that a House of Representatives subcommittee on human rights has just announced it will hold hearings “to examine the operating procedures of U.S. internet companies in China.” The subcommittee chairman intoned, “It is astounding that Google, whose corporate philosophy is ‘don’t be evil,’ would enable evil by cooperating with China’s censorship policies just to make a buck.”

I think the reason Google is getting its feet held to the fire is simple: It asked for it. As soon as the company broadcast its “Don’t Be Evil” pledge, it guaranteed that any time it stepped into ethically ambiguous territory it was going to touch off a firestorm in the press – and, in turn, draw the attention of the public and the public’s media-hungry elected representatives. It’s the old Gary Hart effect. Plenty of Senators get a little on the side without finding their dalliances on Page One, but as soon as Hart claimed to be pure, he guaranteed that reporters and cameramen would come knocking on the door of his lovenest. Whether it was hubris or just naivete that led Google to proclaim its moral purity can be debated, but from a business standpoint it was a surpassingly dumb thing to do – and the consequences were entirely predictable.