Microsoft Censors Internet Writer at Chinese Government's Request

Microsoft Corporation's MSN Web portal shut down the Web site of Zhao Jing, a research assistant at the Beijing bureau of the New York Times and one of China's best known independent Internet commentators (also known as "web loggers" or "bloggers"), on December 30, the New York Times (NYT) reported (subscription required) on January 6. The NYT cited Brooke Richardson, a group product manager for MSN in Seattle, as saying that Microsoft took down Zhao's site after Chinese authorities made a request through a Shanghai-based affiliate of the company. A January 6 Associated Press report (via Businessweek) cited Ms. Richardson as saying it was shut down for violating Microsoft's code of conduct, which requires users to comply with local laws in the country in which the user is based. The NYT said Zhao served as China's lone jury member in a blog competition that Deutsche Welle sponsored last year, and had worked as a research assistant for the Washington Post before joining the NYT in 2003.

Microsoft removed Zhao's Web site from its service called "MSN Spaces" after he used it to discuss Chinese authorities' tightening their control over the Beijing News, a newspaper that has been the subject of criticism from Liu Yunshan, the head of the Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department. Zhao's last three postings were:

• December 28: "The Beijing News Falls into Enemy Hands, the Guangming Daily Hopes to Take it Over Completely." Zhao was one of the first to report that officials at the Guangming Daily had announced on December 28 that they were firing the Beijing News' editor-in-chief Yang Bin and two other senior editors (Western media did not report on the incident until the following day. For an example, see this BBC report). Zhao said: "We hope that Yang Bin and the Beijing News protest will end well. The achievements of the Beijing News are obvious to all, and if the Guangming Daily comes down off the mountain to pick the blossoms and takes over management of the Beijing News in the name of the government, then it will be a new Guangming newspaper, and we will definitely cancel our subscriptions."
• December 29: "For Those of Us Readers Who Are Unwilling to Endure Humiliation, the Only Thing to Do is to Immediately Call and Cancel Our Subscriptions." Zhao called on readers to cancel their subscription to the Beijing News to protest the fact that "The perpetually lying Guangming Daily has taken over the newspaper that we paid for with our earned wages."
• December 30: "Our Respects to the Idealists, and Our Understanding for Their Practical Choice." Zhao reported that the Beijing News was published that day, despite many employees refusing to show up for work, and telling those who chose to publish the paper that they missed an opportunity to make history.

The shutdown also came one week after the Sydney Morning Herald profiled Zhao in an article entitled China's Web Censors Struggle to Muzzle Free-spirited Bloggers, citing Zhao as saying that his previous Web site (which was not hosted at MSN Spaces) was shut down in August, apparently because he had posted an internal letter by a journalist at the China Youth Daily. According to the article, Zhao's Web MSN Spaces site was getting about 8,000 hits a day, and was posting English translations of important political commentaries by Chinese writers.

Ms. Richardson told the NYT: "This is a complex and difficult issue," and "We think it's better to be there with our services than not be there." On January 4 CNet, a Web site specializing in technology news, reported that a Microsoft representative said that the company had removed Zhao's Web site to help ensure that the service complied with local laws in China, and quoted the unnamed source as saying: "MSN is committed to ensuring that products and services comply with global and local laws, norms and industry practices. Most countries have laws and practices that require companies providing online services to make the Internet safe for local users. Occasionally, as in China, local laws and practices require consideration of unique elements." The following day, CNet quoted Michael Connolly, a product unit manager on MSN Spaces, as saying: "In China, there is a unique issue for our entire industry: there are certain aspects of speech in China that are regulated by the government. We've made a choice to run a service in China, and to do that, we need to adhere to local regulations and laws. This is not unique to MSN Spaces; this is something that every company has to do if they operate in China."

Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists said: "China's growing attempt to stifle the free flow of news and opinion by making Internet companies complicit in their repressive policies is deeply disturbing. But for an Internet company to argue that it must honor contractual agreements when operating in China does not absolve it of its responsibility to uphold the ideal behind the Internet - the free and open exchange of information." Reporters Without Borders said Microsoft's action showed that "some Internet sector companies do not respect freedom of expression when operating in repressive countries."

In Section III(c) - Freedom of Expression -- Self Censorship, of its 2005 Annual Report, the CECC noted that relevant Chinese laws and regulations do not provide clear guidance about what kind of political or religious expression is illegal. For example, regulations prohibit publishing or disseminating anything that "harms the honor of China," but no legislative or judicial guidance exists to guide publishers as to what constitutes a violation of this prohibition. Instead, Chinese authorities rely upon detaining writers, indoctrinating publishers, and banning publications to encourage companies, institutions, and individuals to "choose" not to use certain words or publicize certain views that a government official might deem politically unacceptable. Internet and software companies must either employ censorship technologies in their products or risk a government order to close. For example, although no Chinese law or regulation forbids specific words, companies such as Tencent and MSN embed a list of banned words and phrases, including "freedom" and "democracy," in their Internet applications. The China-based search engines of Yahoo! and MSN filter results for searches relating to the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and human rights. Google designed its Chinese-language news aggregation service so that users in China cannot view materials from dissident news Web sites that Chinese authorities have blocked.