14 DAY TRIAL // It seems as though Microsoft has opened its closed ears and has taken some steps forward in its company guidelines yesterday. In an overdue move to adhere to the many outburst in favor of free speech, Microsoft unveiled how it will handle censoring and shutting down blogs in the future. This is in direct response to criticism it's received from shutting down the infamous Michael Anti blog and adhering to the Chinese government's request.
Bradford L. Smith, the company's general counsel was the big shaker and mover for the change. From now on, MSN Spaces will shut a log down only when served with "legally binding notice from the government indicating that the material violates local laws, or if the content violates MSN's terms of use." These new policies still would not have prevented the censoring of Michael Anti (aka Zhao Jing).
Mr. Smith said in a phone call from Lisbon, "We have now, I think, a principled grounding for us to work with MSN Spaces and blogs? we may need to complement those principles with specific additions for those particular technologies."
Content will only be blocked from view in the country which objects to it - the rest of the world will still be able to access it. This is a new function of MSN which the company is in the process of implementing. Additionally, Microsoft will inform the blog's author when content is removed by government order.
Mr. Smith added, "other stakeholders and advocacy groups to produce a set of principles that should guide policies and practices of global Internet companies providing services around the world." This last remark comes only a week after Google said that it would enter the Chinese market with an altered version of its search engine that filters words and subjects deemed inappropriate by government censors.