Geek Goombah Mouthpiece Tries To Cop Plea

The Big 4 of US hi-tech – Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Yahoo! – are into public relations damage control spin over their abject complicity with censorship by tyrants around the world.

To be expected are some industry self-regulation “standards”. As full of holes and caveats as they may be, they will commit the Big 4 and other U.S. hi-tech firms to some measures of self-restraint against which their behavior can be measured.

But, if they think that will be the end of widespread public concern with their commercial kowtowing, they have another thing coming. And, trade-controls will follow.

CNET reports that Microsoft’s corporate attorney says,

“Microsoft's new MSN Spaces policy states that the company will remove content only when it "receives a legally binding notice from the government indicating that the material violates local laws" or when the content violates MSN contract terms. When it does take down content, it will only be done in the country issuing the order, and the company said it will also "ensure that users know why that content was blocked."

"We really felt a need to step back and make sure that we are being thoughtful," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in a telephone interview from Lisbon, Portugal, where the new policy was announced at a forum for government leaders.

Smith said more dialogue is needed and added that Microsoft hopes to see the arrival of a broader, industrywide standard on how to handle government regulations.

However:

Amnesty International representative Amy O'Meara said the human rights organization welcomed Smith's suggestion of industrywide standards for handling oppressive government regulations but felt that Microsoft's move represented only a "very small step" toward progress.

"We're pleased to see that a company like Microsoft is responsive to public concerns," she said, "but we still think there's much more to be done to ensure that companies are not complicit in the human rights abuses perpetrated by repressive regimes such as the Chinese government."