• NY Times, Friday, January 6, 2006 10:30 AM

Following threats from Beijing, Microsoft was forced to shut down the Weblog of a well-known Chinese blogger after writing a post about a high profile newspaper strike that broke out about a week ago, The New York Times reports. The influential blogger used Microsoft's MSN blogging service in China. This is not the first time that a large American technology company has yielded to the requests of the Chinese government to stamp out or censor Web sites that promote dissent or free speech. Last summer the software giant drew criticism for filtering words like "democracy" and "human rights" from its blogging tool. Microsoft told the Times that it must "comply with global and local laws," adding that its job is to provide services to China, not to judge policy. The government asked for the site to be removed after the blogger in question discussed the firing of an independent-minded journalist of The Beijing News, which had resulted in a strike where more than 100 journalists participated in a demonstration.

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