Bingfeng has written a rebuttal to Isaac Mao’s labeling of Microsoft as Evil.

Bingfeng also rebuts my accusation that he supported the banning of ‘freedom,’ ‘democracy’ and other terms from the titles of blogs on MSN Spaces’ China service. While he didn’t directly say that he did, I think the support of Microsoft’s China business strategy more-or-less amounts to the same thing.

Beyond that, Microsoft is setting a dangerous precedent by going beyond the censorship requirements mandated by the CPC. If one of the world’s largest companies finds it necessary to do that, then what will smaller entrants to the market do? Great job at trailblazing Mr Gates.

Still, I have had this argument in the less authoritarian environment of Singapore. While I take a libertarian view on free speech issues, I will admit that the ‘other side’ has a point.

Bingfeng writes:

let me elaborate my points here - i am not supporting the ban of any nice words on the web (as mr. asiapundit misinterpreted me).
labeling something you don’t like as "evil" is quite easy, how to make
things move and advance requires something more than simplistic
labeling ("evil"), confrontational criticisms (like some media
commentators did) or merely an escape (the levi case), it requires
patience, wisdom and "change-seat perspectives". now you ask me what’s
my point, simple, let MS Spaces compromise and in, to help young people
learn independent and critical thinking, to foster a culture in which
people tolerate and benefit from different voices (in MS Spaces), to
contribute to the local communities and prove MS is a positive power,
not a danger to social stability, to create a virtuous circle and
therefore detoxify the me-you and black-and-white mentality (existing
in both chinese and western sides). all these, and much much more, are
valuable work for MS to do and are important for chinese as well.