Tim Bray, for whom I generally have great respect, is pretty forceful in condemning MSN Spaces’ policy to conform to government censorship in China.  I think everyone (even the Chinese) recognize that limiting fr33dom of expression in this way stifles |)em0cracy.  Some people feel that neither the US, companies based here, nor any other multi-national corporation should be doing any business with China whatsoever until their record on human rights including fr3ed0m of expression matches or exceeds that of western democrassees.  Others think that active engagement is the best way to effect change.  China is not an easy problem, is all I’m saying.  Tim seems to imply it is.

It’s also not clear what Tim proposes as an alternative.  I assume the policy is not one of Microsoft’s own invention, but is driven by the Chinese government.  Should MSN pull out of the joint venture and cease supporting the creation of an active blogging culture in China?  I think that would have a much more chilling effect on fr_e_dom and demokrasi over the long term than restricting a few phrases.

If I were in China I would not be at all worried about carefully crafting my post to work around banned words (you can see I’ve tried it - doesn’t seem too hard), but very worried about the government’s reaction to the substance of my post regardless of how well I spell.  I don’t imagine bloggers will self-limit their expression solely because of MSN’s policy.  Spammers certainly have shown a limitless capacity to keep ahead of spam filters which trap mail containing certain unpleasant words.

It may be simpler to succumb to a knee-jerk predilection to use Microsoft as a whipping post for the Chinese government’s policies, but it clouds the true (and very challenging) questions about where the boundaries are between cultural biases (individualism vs. collectivism) and fundamental rights, and the optimum mechanisms and timetables for strengthening those rights.

Note: We should also be doing more to eliminate censorship (including intimidation resulting in self-censorship as in this story) in our own country.  Very few cultural questions there about what is right and what’s wrong, and as citizens we are empowered to do something about it!