Boycott Microsoft Bing

[SecularMotion]

Western corporations have often behaved embarrassingly in China, sacrificing any principles to ingratiate themselves with the Communist Party authorities. Yahoo was the worst, handing over information about several email account holders so that they could be arrested – and then dissembling and defending its monstrous conduct. Now Microsoft is sacrificing the integrity of Bing searches so as to cozy up to State Security in Beijing. In effect, it has chosen become part of the Communist Party’s propaganda apparatus.

If you search a term on Bing that is politically sensitive in China, in English the results are legitimate. Search “Tiananmen” and you’ll find out about the army firing on pro-democracy protesters in 1989. Search Dalai Lama, Falun Gong and you also get credible results. Conduct the search in complex Chinese characters (the kind used in Taiwan and Hong Kong) and on the whole you still get authentic results.

But conduct the search with the simplified characters used in mainland China, then you get sanitized pro-Communist results. This is especially true of image searches. Magic! No Tiananmen Square massacre. The Dalai Lama becomes an oppressor. Falun Gong believers are villains, not victims.
What’s most offensive is that this is true wherever in the world the search is conducted – including in my office in New York. If Microsoft felt it had to bow to Chinese censorship within China’s borders, based on the IP address, that might be defensible. But when Microsoft skews its worldwide searches to make Hu Jintao feel better, that’s a disgrace. It becomes simply a unit of the Central Committee Propaganda Department.

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/boycott-microsoft-bing/

[msongs]

1. are u gonna quit buying stuff made in china to protest Hu Jintau or just microsoft? nt

[mikelgb]

2. btw google does this too

[HughMoran]

7. Yes, I was going to point this out

They are not living up to their motto.

[SeattleGirl]

3. Sorry, but my Blackberry uses Bing as it's search engine.

Plus, I don't type using simplified Chinese characters.

[ddeclue]

9. I'm sure you can select whatever search engine you like and Bing is just the default.

[Orrex]

4. I'm still mad at him for White Christmas, that mawkish snore-fest.

[guitar man]

6. Was that Microsoft Bing?

Hmmm, I always thought he did White Christmas when he was in his Linux phase ? :shrug:

[madrchsod]

10. but what about this.....he sort`a redeemed himself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zMhSjDqvRs&feature=player_embedded

[MattBaggins]

5. About that whole Falun Gong thing ...

Why did the Chinese guys at the restaurant I delivered for have such disdain for them? They had the same opinion of them that we have of the Moonies, Hari Krishnas or Scientologists. They thought of them as weirdos and these were Chinese that couldn't care less about the Chinese government anymore.

[ddeclue]

8. Already do but not for this reason... I just hate Microborg trying to take over the universe.

Same reason I hate Wally-World and don't shop there either.

[louis-t]

11. I can't get rid of the bing link

since I downloaded Internet Ex 7. really was a waste of time.