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Chinese blogger
Jan. 7th, 2006 08:51 pmI just sent this letter to the Seattle Times:
A Seattle Times story today about Microsoft shutting down a Chinese blogger said:
Microsoft's 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 company headquarters in Redmond.
Although Beijing has supported the Internet 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 Dec. 30 or Dec. 31 for violating Microsoft's code of conduct, which states that users must be in compliance with local laws in the country in which the user is based.
I understand that Microsoft must comply with local laws in order to operate in China. Every time Microsoft representatives say this about China's authoritarian censorship laws, they should add, "We comply with these laws under protest."
Let every American and every American company comply with local laws against free speech, but always and only under protest. Doing business in unfree countries is one of the best avenues freedom has for expansion, but let us never pretend that the authoritarian governments in such unfree countries are benevolent; let us continue to stand up for our ideals at every turn. Let us, at the very least, continue to say that China does not yet allow its people freedom of speech, even while we notice that it has progressed to the point of allowing them some limited freedom of commerce.
Let us be particularly careful not to pretend that a lack of free speech is acceptable in other countries at a time when it is in danger in our own. Freedom everywhere is always under siege; freedom is always messy and difficult for any government, and for any corporation. That messy difficulty belongs to us; it is our birthright as human beings, but only if we work to keep it alive.
A Seattle Times story today about Microsoft shutting down a Chinese blogger said:
Microsoft's 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 company headquarters in Redmond.
Although Beijing has supported the Internet 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 Dec. 30 or Dec. 31 for violating Microsoft's code of conduct, which states that users must be in compliance with local laws in the country in which the user is based.
I understand that Microsoft must comply with local laws in order to operate in China. Every time Microsoft representatives say this about China's authoritarian censorship laws, they should add, "We comply with these laws under protest."
Let every American and every American company comply with local laws against free speech, but always and only under protest. Doing business in unfree countries is one of the best avenues freedom has for expansion, but let us never pretend that the authoritarian governments in such unfree countries are benevolent; let us continue to stand up for our ideals at every turn. Let us, at the very least, continue to say that China does not yet allow its people freedom of speech, even while we notice that it has progressed to the point of allowing them some limited freedom of commerce.
Let us be particularly careful not to pretend that a lack of free speech is acceptable in other countries at a time when it is in danger in our own. Freedom everywhere is always under siege; freedom is always messy and difficult for any government, and for any corporation. That messy difficulty belongs to us; it is our birthright as human beings, but only if we work to keep it alive.
