In response to heavy criticism over pulling down a controversial Chinese blogger’s site, Micro$oft is revamping their policy on that sort of thing.
Smith said that 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, he said.
Microsoft is readying technology that will allow the blocking of blogs just within a specific country, according to Smith. “We will act when we have the legal duty to do so,” he said. “We will act when we are given the kind of notice that clearly makes that duty binding upon us.”
Moreover, Microsoft will notify the owner of the blog that the site was removed as a result of a notice from government.
Not ideal, by any means, but a lot better than the way they’d handled such matters previously.