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Microsoft bans 'democracy' for China web users

mcadam

mcadam

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 3, 2004
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Microsoft, that poor company who just tries to make a little (more) money:

Microsoft's new Chinese internet portal has banned the words "democracy" and "freedom" from parts of its website in an apparent effort to avoid offending Beijing's political censors.
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This must be some of the most amazing error messages yet to come out of that company:

Attempts to input words in Chinese such as "democracy" prompted an error message from the site: "This item contains forbidden speech. Please delete the forbidden speech from this item." Other phrases banned included the Chinese for "demonstration", "democratic movement" and "Taiwan independence".
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:eek:

As reported (ironically) on msn

A
 
Its all part of the Windows XPeriance...

Seriously, for all the B&M Gates Foundation has been doing for developing countries, this is a little surprising. I guess business still is and will always come first...
 
From what I've read there's nothing illegal about using the word "democracy" on your website in China. I think Microsoft is just being overly cautious here.

And Microsoft aren't the only ones who bow to censorship laws...
 
dubbz said:
From what I've read there's nothing illegal about using the word "democracy" on your website in China. I think Microsoft is just being overly cautious here.

And Microsoft aren't the only ones who bow to censorship laws...
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That bugs me if they don't have to ban why should they.
 
On a brighter side...

Well, I guess when the Three Gorges Dam bursts, "democracy" won't be the first word coming to your mind as you see the massive wall of water hurtling towards you.
 
I wonder if the Chinese versions of Longhorn will ban you from typing these words? Sending off warning messages to the government so they can dispatch a ninja hit squad.

What about the innocent uses of these words? Seems absolutely crazy to try to delete words from a language all together. Seems very 1984 to me. :(
 
zv470 said:
Well, I guess when the Three Gorges Dam bursts, "democracy" won't be the first word coming to your mind as you see the massive wall of water hurtling towards you.
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Well, no, it won't. But as for the first word that would come out of your mouth, to be fair, even MacRumors blocks *that* word out! :p ;) :eek: :D
 
mkrishnan said:
Well, no, it won't. But as for the first word that would come out of your mouth, to be fair, even MacRumors blocks *that* word out! :p ;) :eek: :D
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I don't think so... let's try:

"OH..."

Edit: Seems to make it through. Maybe later I'll try the second word. ;)
 
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