Business Blog Wire

I found two articles (here and here) at Yahoo! News reporting on a new change in the Microsoft blogging policy.  The big story is that Microsoft is finally bowing to pressure from its own employees after rashly censoring a Chinese blogger, and has edited its blog policy in response to the desires of the Chinese government.

The first article says, "Microsoft will only remove blogs when given proper legal notice, and even then, will only block access to that material within the country where it is deemed unlawful. The site will still be viewable from outside the country."

Microsoft will also tell the blog’s owner why it removed the blog.

The first article goes on to say that "Microsoft’s new policy is a clear response to the wide criticism the company received over the last month since it shut down the site of Chinese blogger Zhao Jing, also known as Michael Anti."

One stat that jumped out at me from the second article was that "MSN Spaces, which allows users to post journals, pictures and other content on the Internet, boasts 35 million users, including 3.3 million in China."

So the legalities of blogging are evolving and becoming more complex.  Companies that blog should keep up-to-date on their competitors’ blog policies and on the laws about blogging in the countries in which they do business.  I’ve got a lot to learn about the laws surrounding blogging, so if you know where I can learn more about them, please let me know.  (Of course the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a good resource.)

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