Microsoft, Yahoo, Google LOVE COMMIE CHINESE

A global media watchdog has condemned US software giant Microsoft and
Chinese authorities for deleting the blog of a well-known social
critic.

"The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Chinese
authorities for censoring well-known blogger Zhao Jing, and is alarmed
by Microsoft's agreement to pull down his site," the group said in a
statement received here Tuesday.

Zhao, whose on-line pen name is Michael Anti, had his site on
Microsoft's China-based MSN Spaces hosting service deleted on December
30 after he wrote about the government's removal of top editors at the
Beijing News newspaper.

His web logs also covered the strike by journalists at the paper in
protest at the dismissals.

Microsoft deleted his website without prior notice after receiving a
request from Chinese authorities, the committee 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," CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said.

"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."

Microsoft last week defended its action, saying it was acting in line
with local and global laws when it deleted the web log.

"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 company said.

Microsoft had already faced intense criticism after it was revealed
last year that its Chinese blogging service restricted the entry of
sensitive terms such as "demonstration," "democratic movement" and
"Taiwan independence."

The MSN Spaces operation, a Microsoft joint venture with state-owned
Shanghai Alliance Entertainment, is the top blog hosting service in
China.

The Chinese government has implemented a broad and sophisticated system
of monitoring and censoring the Internet, where reporters and others
often post news banned from publication elsewhere.

Fifteen of the 32 journalists in prison in China in 2005 were jailed
for posting their writings on the Internet, the CPJ said.

© 2006 AFP

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