Earlier this month it was reported that at the request of China’s rulers, Microsoft shut down the Web site of a Chinese blogger that was maintained on a Microsoft service called MSN Spaces. The blogger, Zhao Jing (Ë∂ô‰∫¨), had been reporting on a strike by journalists at the Beijing News that followed the dismissal of the newspaper’s independent-minded editor.
Microsoft’s action raises a key question: can the Internet really be a force for freedom that repressive governments cannot control as easily as newspapers, radio and television?
Ironically, Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates has been an enthusiastic advocate of this view. Just last October, he said: “There’s really no way to, in a broad sense, repress information today, and I think that’s a wonderful advance we can all feel good about … [T]his is a medium of total openness and total freedom, and that’s what makes it so special.”
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