Posted on 01/06/2006 8:28:27 PM PST by wagglebee
Microsoft Corp. has shut down the Internet journal of a Chinese blogger that discussed politically sensitive issues including a recent strike at a Beijing newspaper.
The action came amid criticism by free-speech activists of foreign technology companies that help the communist government enforce censorship or silence dissent in order to be allowed into China's market.
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.
But the blog, written under the pen name An Ti by Zhao Jing, who works for the Beijing bureau of The New York Times as a research assistant, touched on sensitive topics such as China's relations with Taiwan. Last week, he used the blog to crusade on behalf of a Beijing newspaper.
Reporters at the Beijing News, a daily known for its aggressive reporting, staged an informal one-day strike after their chief editor was removed from his post. The editor's removal and the strike attracted comments on Chinese online bulletin boards, which censors then erased.
Online bulletin boards and Web logs have given millions of Chinese an opportunity to express opinions in a public setting in a system where all media are government-controlled.
But service providers are required to monitor Web logs and bulletin boards, erase banned content and report offenders.
Foreign companies have adopted Chinese standards, saying they must obey local laws.
Microsoft's Web log service bars use of terms such as "democracy" and "human rights." On the China-based portal of search engine Google, a search for material the Dalai Lama, Taiwan and other sensitive topics returns a message saying "site cannot be found."
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 September, a Chinese journalist was sentenced to seven years in prison on subversion charges after writing articles that appeared on Web sites abroad that are blocked in China.
China also is in the midst of a crackdown on online smut. The police ministry said last month that it had shut down 598 Web sites with sexually explicit content and arrested 25 people.
David Wolf, a Beijing-based technology consultant, said that while Microsoft might be hurt abroad by controversy over its actions in China, Chinese Internet services routinely exercise similar censorship.
"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."
Microsoft's Web log service bars use of terms such as "democracy" and "human rights." On the China-based portal of search engine Google, a search for material the Dalai Lama, Taiwan and other sensitive topics returns a message saying "site cannot be found."
So these leftists do the bidding of the Chicoms, but organizations like the New York Slimes refuse White House requests not to run stories that will harm our national security -- it's nice to see where their priorities are.
Ping.
Microsoft = CNN.
Actually it's NBC, but same difference.
wagglebee, although I agree with your admonition of the squelching of free speech, you need to put the blame where it belongs. Microsoft is operating within the legal parameters of the Chinese government and has no recourse but to follow their policy. It is the Chinese government that is censoring the site, not MS. In the case of the New York Times, they exist in a much different world than does the site you are referring to. The New York Times has the right to print what it sees fit because our constitution protects it. Requests from the White House are just that, requests. Again, I don't agree with what the NYT prints, and therefore do not patronize the publication.
Please wagglebee, direct your ire towards the proper entities because your focus is misguided.
The Red Chinese are obviously a bunch of cowards who think so little of their own putrid dictatorship that they don't even have the guts or the ability to stand up to criticism and win by simple persuasion. Their fear of dissent shows nothing but weakness. Their stifling of individual rights shows nothing but evil.
I just became a big Google supporter.
You have absolutely gotta be kidding me. The Chinese, although a very intellectual culture has no genetic superiority over any other race on this earth. Also, the idea that their form of government is limiting this superior intelligence is equally absurd. I truly hope you were being sarcastic with that post.
As far as the NYT goes, it is entirely possible that they used illegally obtained classified documents and not only disregarded a WH request, they also broke the law.
Yeah, Google, one of the most liberal organizations on the planet.
On the China-based portal of search engine Google, a search for material the Dalai Lama, Taiwan and other sensitive topics returns a message saying "site cannot be found."
Or, it could be the server just crashed, or got screwed up by a hacker attack or virus. ;')
I know this is off point, but does anyone know if Drudge has any financial interest in Breitbart.com. He seems to link a lot of stories to them.
In which case it's simply due to Microsoft's incompetence.
For a recent summary, see Rushton, J. P., & Jensen, A. R. (2005). Thirty years of research on race differences in cognitive ability. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 11, 235-294. Available online at http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/psychology/faculty/rushton_pubs.htm.
Also the Arthur R. Jensen, The g factor - the science of mental ability, Praeger, 1998 (ISBN 0-275-96103-6). These are books and articles by serious researches, peer reviewed. Maybe they are kidding - I was not.
We are in total agreement that the freedom of speech, religion, and belief are inherent rights of all mankind. Yet, until the governmental system in China changes, either by internal pressures or external forces, U.S. Companies must comply. I believe that the forces of a free"er" market capitalism in China may eventually lead to the internal pressures needed to create a desire for a change in the government. This happened in the Soviet Union to some extent. Of course there was obviously more support for such change within the Soviet government than there is in the Chinese government.
In regards to your acqusations against the NYTs, I am not aware of them using illegally obtained classified documents. If this is the case, then the DOJ must investigate and prosecute and and all offenders.
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