As noted here earlier, MSN has taken down Michael Anti’s blog. Rebecca McKinnon, in a now widely linked post, has a more detailed look at what Microsoft and other blog-service providers are doing in China.:

Microsoft’s MSN Spaces continues to censor its Chinese language blogs, and has become more aggressive and thorough at censorship since I first checked out MSN’s censorship system last summer. On New Years Eve, MSN Spaces took down the popular blog written by Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti. Now all you get when you attempt to visit his blog at: http://spaces.msn.com/members/mranti/ is the error message pictured above. (.)

Note, his blog was TAKEN DOWN by MSN people. Not blocked by the Chinese government. (emphasis added)

Rebecca also recalls posting a trial blog in mid-December, confirming that the censoring is being done by Microsoft and not Chinese authorities:

Now, It is VERY important to note that the inaccessible blog was moved or removed at the server level and that the blog remains inaccessible from the United States as well as from China. This means that the action was taken NOT by Chinese authorities responsible for filtering and censoring the internet for Chinese viewers, but by MSN staff at the level of the MSN servers.

This is not to give the authorities a pass on censorship - China blocks and censors everything from print to satellite broadcasts - but MSN has again gone well beyond what is required of them by the Chinese government. Microsoft doesn’t just follow orders, it goes out of its way to flatter and kowtow to Communist Party authorities.

Microsoft Geek blogger Robert Scoble has asked MSN for more details on the shutdown of Anti.

A further roundup on China internet censorship is here.

Technorati Tags: anti, asia, blogs, censorship, china, northeast asia