Wednesday, American companies at the vanguard of the information future are likely to get grilled about practices reminiscent of the 20th century - such as censorship and aiding political repression.

A US House of Representatives panel will look into high-profile cases where Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo worked with China to restrict access to material or reveal the identity of users with dissident postings. Cisco is also implicated. But lawmakers eager to end such cooperation may find it hard to do so, at least in Yahoo's case.

A deal in October may insulate the Internet giant. Because it gave up a majority stake of its China service to a Chinese company, Yahoo argues that decisions about cooperating with Chinese officials lie with that company, which has obligations to obey Beijing, not Washington.

That move has human rights activists fuming, especially after last week, when Paris-based watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RWB) charged Yahoo with helping authorities in 2003 to capture Li Zhi, an anticorruption reformer now serving an eight-year prison term. Yahoo says the case is under investigation and declined further comment.

Some in Congress are fuming about the practice. "It's like turning Anne Frank over to the Nazis," says Rep. Christopher Smith (R) of New Jersey, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, one of two subcommittees jointly holding Wednesday's hearings. One of his suggestions: Require companies to locate e-mail servers outside countries deemed repressive by the State Department.

It's unclear what jurisdiction Congress would have over Yahoo, he adds. "That's part of what the hearings ... and our probe will seek to uncover."

In Yahoo's opinion, server placement is a decision for Alibaba. com, its strategic partner based in Shanghai, China. Alibaba.com is a privately held company of Jack Ma, known as the grandfather of the Internet in China. Yahoo retains a 40 percent interest in the company.

"If you're talking about forward-looking decisions to be made on the Yahoo China business, it's an important point to make that this is under Alibaba's discretion," says Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako.

For its part, Alibaba.com suggests Beijing policy would trump laws that Congress might pass. "Our overall position is that it is the responsibility of every business to follow the local laws of the countries in which they operate," says company spokesperson Porter Erisman.

Yahoo is no newcomer to controversy regarding China. In 2002, the company began drawing criticism for agreeing to limit search results when Chinese users punched in "Taiwan independence" and other terms deemed sensitive by Chinese regulators. Last year, Yahoo admitted that its China division had supplied information about Shi Tao, a journalist serving 10 years for disclosing state secrets. Last week's revelations about Mr. Li are the second such case.

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