Yet again, an American company is drawing flames for its adherence to local regulations in China. Microsoft has been in this hot
seat before. For at least six months the Chinese implementation of MSN Spaces has censored phrases such as
human rights from its blog titles. Plenty of American pundits didn't like that one. Now, a more specific fire
has erupted around Microsoft's blocking of
a member's entire site on Spaces; the censored individual is Zhao Jing, a Chinese freelancer for The New York
Times who wrote in his Spaces blog about a December newspaper strike. Presumably (though I haven't read how the
process actually worked), Microsoft received a takedown request from the Chinese government and complied.
It
is facile to say that Microsoft should act differently, and rarely acknowledged that an American company operating
oversees is operating in a tight spot. Perhaps Microsoft and other American-based online services should pull out of
China entirely. The upshot is that it seems intolerable that an American company would participate in such heinous
suppression of freedom of speech, no matter how touchy the diplomatic situation.
Microsoft Ejects Chinese Blogger from MSN Spaces
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. I don't understand what you mean by 'it is facie to say that Microsoft should act differently'. First, do you mean facile, and second, if so, what's so facile about it?
Posted at 6:09PM on Jan 8th 2006 by dp
3. It's kind of pathetic that the relationships between humans still resides among boundries, invisible lines, and borders that disallow transitional thoughts and the basics of rights among humans.
Sweeping everything under the rug is a weak attempt at reality and the far east should seemingly get a clue.
cheers,
Brian
http://valueprep.com
4. Speaking of Asian blogs, there is a new Asian blog ranking site called Asiarati that is just on beta test. If you have a blog that is for, of or by Asians, then come to this address:
http://www.asiarati.com/index.php?register
Posted at 8:34PM on Jan 10th 2006 by Jason Banico
5. Yet again China succeeds in blocking human rights.
Although here's food for thought: China banned Skype, the famous VOIP company. With the new MSN live messenger, maybe Microsoft is poised to take some of that market.
I wonder how Microsoft would react if China banned their MSN Messenger??
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1. Regarding Microsoft, I make a similar point about American companies getting out of China. WHy should we "flatten the World" to companies that will only abuse human rights? Technology offers more control to governments in today's focus on digital rights management and less privacy to end-users.
More online at http://www.mguhlin.net/blog/archives/2006/01/entry_993.htm
Thanks,
Miguel Guhlin
http://www.mguhlin.net/blog
Posted at 1:18PM on Jan 7th 2006 by Miguel Guhlin