"Look into your own soul, and see the damage you have done to an innocent human being and his family," the late Democratic Representative from California, Tom Lantos, said to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, nearly a year ago, at a hearing in Washington. "It will make no difference to the committee what you do, but it will make you better human beings, if you recognize your own responsibility for the enormous damage your policies have created."

Yang endured this tongue lashing with Yahoo General Counsel Michael Callahan, but has anything changed since then?

If you'll remember, information provided by Yahoo was used to convict Shi Tao, a 37-year-old journalist, of leaking "state secrets." Now, six months after Lantos' death, his words continue to ring, but to no apparent effect.

Yahoo had the misfortune of having Shi Tao as a mail user. And worse luck in placing one of their data centers within the jurisdiction of the Chinese government. Yet Shi was the unluckiest of all, having been sent to a Chinese prison for 10 years based on email that he had sent.

But let's not single out Yahoo. Google and Microsoft have been just as playing by China's rules—blocking search results, sites, as well as whatever is asked of them. Meanwhile all three are dragging their heels in adopting a code of conduct that they promised they would develop. Hmm... while the latter two were happy the late Representative didn't make them apologize to Shi Tao's family—and their servers are in a place more protective of free speech and privacy rights—why no code?

Just last week, Senators Tom Coburn and Dick Durbin sent a letter to the CEOs of Microsoft, Yahoo, and—yeah—Google, accusing them of purposely delaying their pledge to agree to a code of conduct. This code would bind these internet players to not aid foreign governments' attempts to censor or suppress Internet users.

The senators say they're anxious that, without this code, the companies will be forced to divulge to the Chinese private data on athletes, journalists, and tourists at this summer's Olympic Games.

Ah, the Olympic Games, being held under that cloud of smog in Beijing... maybe wearing the "media" hat is more important for these companies than mere ethical concerns about rumored codes of conduct. Coverage of the games can definitely assist in all of their revenues. And beside, Washington, D.C. is 3,000 miles away from all three companies' corporate headquarters.

So, it appears that the cloud we draw to represent the internet is really becoming a dark, brooding storm. News flash not covered on the internet—it's already raining.