MS and Blogging in China
We're not big fans of antitrust laws and we know Microsoft has done a lot of good. But we don't trust 'em, just don't trust 'em:
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer repeatedly visited China in recent years, helping to strengthen the company's relationship with top leaders in a country where connections are often vital in securing deals. Microsoft's partner in the MSN China venture, Shanghai Alliance, is run by a son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
As part of its marketing campaign, Microsoft has donated software to state-run China Telecom and China's State Economic and Trade Commission. It has pledged $10 million to be invested in or donated to China's primary education system. And it has offered to provide free Windows operating systems to government officials in Beijing for three years in exchange for its becoming an exclusive software provider.
Microsoft's new blogging service, MSN Spaces, has attracted 5 million users in China, the company said. The service was launched in China on the MSN China portal on May 26. Computer users frequent the portal for e-mail, shopping, games and online English classes.
Microsoft has agreed to restrict words on the site by using guidelines outlined by China's Communist Party. Many terms banned in the subject lines of postings on Spaces are not surprising: "Dalai Lama"; "Tibet"; "Falun Gong," a religious group outlawed by Beijing; and "June 4th," the way Chinese refer to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on protesters demanding political freedoms.
But some aspects of the filtering appear to be arbitrary. Even as "demonstration" and "violent chaos" are blocked, "riot" and "violent uprising" are not. "Separatism" is forbidden, but "independence" is fine. And some terms are allowed in the body of a message, but not in subject lines.
In addition to Microsoft and Yahoo, Amazon, EBay and a host of other Western high-tech companies are piling into China, lured by the nation's 1.3 billion consumers and rapid economic growth. Along the way, many have agreed to or are considering similar censorship arrangements with the government. . .
Chinese bloggers using a new Microsoft service to post messages titled "democracy," "capitalism," "liberty" or "human rights" are greeted with a bright yellow warning.
"This message includes forbidden language," it scolds. "Please delete the prohibited expression."
Before condemning China too harshly, at least this system gives bloggers warnings, before they get in trouble. In Canada, you get hauled in front of the Human Rights Commission after the fact.
