Truth Out Loud

January 06, 2006

MIcrosoft confirms political censorship as standard business practice

It constantly amazes me how many principled freedoms companies doing business overseas will sell to the highest bidder. They even go so far as excusing it as "obeying the law".

Microsoft's China-based Web log-hosting service shut down the blog at the Chinese government's request, said Brooke Richardson, group product manager with Microsoft's MSN online division at the company headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Though Beijing has supported Internet use for education and business, it fiercely polices content. Filters block objectionable foreign Web sites and regulations ban subversive and pornographic content and require service providers to enforce censorship rules.

"When we operate in markets around the world we have to ensure that our service complies with global laws as well as local laws and norms," Richardson said.

Richardson said the blog was shut down on Dec. 30 or 31 but wouldn't give any other details about the reason.

What makes this issue particularly important is the recent drive for control of the internet by the UN which would make it subject to Chinese regulatory influence at the highest levels.

How long before Microsoft starts turning in these rogue blogers to the Chinese authorities for prosecution.

Last year, Web portal Yahoo! was the target of criticism when it was disclosed that the company provided information that was used to convict a Chinese reporter on charges of revealing state secrets.

Reporter Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison based on an e- mail that he had sent abroad with details of a memo read out at his newspaper about media controls.

In china a state secret is anything that makes China look bad.

"They simply do it as a matter of course," said Wolf, managing director of Wolf Group Asia. "When you're looking around China, there is nothing that Microsoft and Yahoo have to do that is any different from what Chinese companies already are doing."

I am getting more and more uncomfortable as information giants continue to adopt the regulations of repressive governments as their standards for operation.

Posted by Sid at 12:52 AM | Comments (0) | China

January 04, 2006

Microsoft partners up with Chinese government to censor blogers

We always new China went to great lengths to block free speech. We just never knew how low free people would sink for a buck.

Microsoft’s MSN Spaces continues to censor its Chinese language blogs, and has become more aggressive and thorough at censorship since I first checked out MSN’s censorship system last summer. On New Years Eve, MSN Spaces took down the popular blog written by Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti.

I am sure they will try to explain that by censoring content they are making the views of those that are censored available to a wider audience since it will not be blocked by the Chinese censors. Wake up Bill.

Posted by Sid at 12:44 AM | Comments (0) | China