As corporations grow into multinationals, they have to learn to play in ball in international settings that may have their own set of rules. It's a tricky game and public opinion is the only referee.

Yahoo! learned how running afoul of those different rules could hurt it at home when stories surfaced about Yahoo! giving information to Chinese government officials that helped it jail dissidents.

On a server in the US someone can mock the president or the government all they want and only worry that they will upset their peers. But abroad, some governments seem to think humility and criticism aren't worthy qualities. Chinese officials sit in front of computers monitoring any movement on keyword searches on the terms 'freedom' and 'democracy.'

What's Yahoo! to do? Ignore international markets while others worm their way in, break the laws of the country, or resist and get possibly get kicked out?

Yahoo! chose to get into the second-biggest Internet market in the world and followed its laws. But back in the US people got ticked, and the Internet buzzed with outrage to see a company they use on a daily basis roll over and give up the data.

Now Yahoo! is going to the US government to ask for help to figure out how to dance this delicate dance without tripping.