Microsoft Shuts Down Chinese Blog (Helps Chicoms squelch free speech)

Breitbart.com ^ | 1/6/06 | JOE McDONALD/AP

[wagglebee]

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."

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.

[untrained skeptic]

Their Chinese based branches must obey Chinese laws. If they don't they simply get shut down. They have no ability to fight the Chinese government and would just end up hurting their other customers if they tried.

They aren't squelching free speech on US based servers, just on their Chinese based business in accordance with local law.

[wagglebee]

Ping.

[GSlob]

"So these leftists do the bidding of the Chicoms... it's nice to see where their priorities are."
Well, if one is to believe the contemporary consensus that the East Asians [like the Chinese] have average genetic IQs of 107 [depressed by a poor, but now improving, diet and - in the practical applications of their IQ - by the limitations of their repressive civilizational system] - then one has to conclude that Microsoft is a true and excellent corporate US citizen and has its priorities absolutely straight. Freeing the Chinese from the shackles of their own repressive "Sinic civilization" [Samuel Huntington's term] would be really catastrophic for the United States' national security.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Microsoft = CNN.

[wagglebee]

Microsoft = CNN.

Actually it's NBC, but same difference.

[phoenix0468]

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.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

My reference to CNN's ignoring Saddam's atrocities in order to be allowed to "report" from Iraq. Just couldn't 'report" about all that torturing and murdering, especially about those wood-chipper ops.

[FreeKeys]

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.

[starbase]

I just became a big Google supporter.

[phoenix0468]

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.

[wagglebee]

I agree that if corporations want to operate in China, they must follow Chinese law, but I also believe (and perhaps I am being too idealistic) that at some point the freedoms that made prosperity possible for companies like Microsoft are the inherent right of all mankind.

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.

[phoenix0468]

Yeah, Google, one of the most liberal organizations on the planet.

[wagglebee]

I guess you missed this part of the article:

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."

[SunkenCiv]

Or, it could be the server just crashed, or got screwed up by a hacker attack or virus. ;')

[babydoll22]

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.

[wagglebee]

In which case it's simply due to Microsoft's incompetence.

[starbase]

Yeah, Google, one of the most liberal organizations on the planet.

Well they always say their searches are entirely automatic (keeping politics out of the information they serve), plus when they move everything to the web there will be less chances for companies like Microsoft to be so singularly important.

Anyway, since Microsoft IS destroying free speech now, well I've got to support someone else, don't I?

[GSlob]

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.

[phoenix0468]

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.