Microsoft helps People's Republic of China to censor bloggers

Story dated 15 June 2005

"Civil liberties groups have condemned an arrangement between Microsoft and Chinese authorities to censor the internet. The American company is helping censors remove "freedom" and "democracy" from the net in China with a software package that prevents bloggers from using these and other politically sensitive words on their websites. The restrictions, which also include an automated denial of "human rights", are built into MSN Spaces, a blog service launched in China last month by Shanghai MSN Network Communications Technology, a venture in which Microsoft holds a 50% stake."

So Microsoft not only has no problem with tyrants, they are eager to help them out in their oppression of the People? That's nice; oh well, they are in the business of making money, right? Yeah, I don't think so. The practices of the Chinese government are just plain wrong. There is no moral equivalency, here. We should not be assisting them. I think it's time to switch over to LINUX. Microsoft's practices are incompatible with my values.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 11:39 AM

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