Microsoft helps China purge "Freedom" and "Human Rights" from net, page 1

posted on Jul, 18 2005 @ 10:00 AM

link

Beijing officials have hired Microsoft to set up an internet portal that will block web searchers in China from being able to search for the words "democracy," "freedom" and "human rights." Net users who attempt to search these words, as well as pornographic and other politically influenced words, will receive the following message: "This item should not contain forbidden speech such as profanity. Please enter a different word for this item."

www.iht.com
Internet sites in China must abide by a code of conduct and censor any information that could be viewed by the government as politically sensitive, pornographic or illegal. For most Chinese Web sites, such content also includes news stories that the government considers unfavorable or does not want published.

Regulations issued in March require that all Web sites in China be formally registered with the government by the end of June or be shut down by the Internet police.

Last month, Microsoft joined up with a state-financed company, Shanghai Alliance Investment, to start the MSN China Internet portal.

Microsoft is not the only international technology company to comply with China's stringent Internet rules.

The Internet search engines Yahoo and Google have been criticized for cooperating with the government to censor the Web.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

IMO, Microsoft and Bill Gates is really missing the big picture here. Sure, in their mind, it's a huge opportunity to establish themselves as a major player in their economy, but at what price? Is the amount of money to be made in the Chinese market worth it to help their government add even more censorship and oppression to their people?

[edit on 24-7-2005 by asala]

JBurns

posted on Jul, 18 2005 @ 10:13 AM

link

Any way you look at it, Microsoft is wrong, and China is wrong. There is no justification to censor words like that, in my opinion, governance on the net is pretty unfair to begin with.

ulshadow

posted on Jul, 18 2005 @ 10:26 AM

link

In big business it's not about whats right and whats wrong it's about making the maxium profit.

AceOfBase

posted on Jul, 18 2005 @ 10:43 AM

link

This story is from back in June and has been discussed before.
It shouldn't be a current news item.

Agence France-Presse
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2005

FredT

posted on Jul, 18 2005 @ 02:35 PM

link

Actually Ace,

I posted this story June 15th I think already and it can be found here:

Microsoft Censoring Words In Chinese Blogs
www.atsnn.com...

[edit on 7/18/05 by FredT]