Comments on: Microsoft clarifies policy on censoring blogs

Under fire for removing a Chinese journalist's postings, it sets out how it will respond to government censorship orders.

[Earl Benser]

It's not going to please everyone...

... but MS seems to have made an excellent policy decision. There
remains to be sen the CHinese response, which could be a "do it
our way on not at all" demand. China isn't expected to act
rationally, the country is not a rational entity, in terns of geo-
politics. It is a self appointed tyranny and that's what the rest of the
world must deal with. At least we're not facing the foolishness of a
Chinese 'Dear Leader'.

[SystemsJunky]

Agreed

[nt]

what if...

every company and every country just ignored China's requests. That would be fun to see.

[ccr37]

Microsoft

the company will remove content only when it "receives a legally binding notice from the government indicating that the material violates local laws"

This sounds, on the face of it, as a reasonable stance. However, "locals laws" under a dictatorship do not have the same meaning as in Democratic countries. Do freedom loving people really have to support the laws enforced by a dictatorship?

What Microsoft and other like companies are really doing is trying to put the best face on their attempts to earn money and by collaborating with a dictatorship. Corporations should not be excused from unethical behavior just because they they are money making entities. There would be no "difficult" decisions to be made re censorship if information businesses remained in residence in democratic countries and let people in dictatorships find ways to access the free press.

The Voice of America did not take up residence in the Soviet Union in order to give "better access" to the news to the Soviet people.

[Robert Wiseman]

Ignore China's request

All freedom loving countries and companies should and must ignore the Chinese police state 's request --- it has ignored the whole world request and continued to be beligerent against its people...

[ejpasseos]

Now they care...after citizen receives 10 years for using the "D word".

Ah, Billy and Steve...
Noone should know more about the corrosive and chilling effects of government interference/control than Billy. Was there anything recently more sickening than watching Billy squirm under questioning during the Bill Clinton Justice Department/State AG effort to kill Microsoft and to ruin the computing experience for all of us--other than EVERY time Eliot Spitzer gets near a microphone.
I know Google's Sergey, Larry, and Eric, Yahoo's Terry Semel, and the Billy and Steve show at Mr. Softie all view their postion on the citizen murdering Commies in China as morally defensible. It's not! If Yahoo thought it was right to turn over information on a blogger talking about the dreaded "D word" so that they could receive a 10 year sentence, then the don't be evil crowd and Gates/Ballmer should have learned from their profound mistake. They didn't.
When I was blogging on Spaces, I couldn't even write the term Zionism! Despite the UN's insistence (later rescinded by the great John Bolton), Zionism is NOT racism. But to the censors at Microsoft it is (obviously, I quit using the service.)
These are publicly traded companies, so Iunderstand the need to pursue economic opportunities, but when you sell your soul for profit, it's time to look in the mirror. Hopefully, Billy and Stevie will make a better choice than the arrogant boys at "don't be evil."

[bluesale]

Lack of intelligence ?!?!

Microsoft is always under fire?
See that, Brazilian President, Mr. LULA made a strike on Microsoft sales giving all support to Open Source in Brazil.
Curiously Microsoft is strongly supporting a seminar that want to close Latin America market to us without any serious advantage to US companies?
See this link...
http://www.brasiloutsourcing.com.br/centro2006/palestrantes.asp
At least incautious in a country were IT hours price is twice from INDIA and bribery is the rule...
What to say?