Screenshots of Censorship

(Cross-posted from Global Voices)

Some Chinese bloggers have said that they were able to set up Chinese language MSN Spaces blogs using the "forbidden" political words. To clarify the situation I tried to set up my own freedom loving Chinese blog. I went into the MSN Spaces Chinese interface at: http://spaces.msn.com/?mkt=zh-cn, and tried to set up a blog titled 我爱言论自由人权和民主, which means "I love freedom of speech, human rights and democracy." 

SCREENSHOT DETAIL:

I got the following error message: 您必须输入您的共享空间标题。标题不能包含禁止的语言，例如亵渎的语言。请键入一个不同的标题。Which means: "You must enter a title for your space. The title must not contain prohibited language, such as profanity. Please type a different title."

SCREENSHOT DETAIL:

I guess Microsoft considers "human rights," "democracy," and "freedom of speech" to be profanity.

This censorship can be circumvented with Bennet Haselton's Freedom Hack Instructions.  Using the instructions I was successful in creating the Chinese blog called "I love freedom of speech, democracy, and human rights."

Pornoy in Taiwan has translated the instructions into Chinese.

FURTHER UPDATE:

I played around with the freedom & democracy blog I created through the hacking instructions and was able to create posts with politically sensitive headlines like "don't forget June4th 1989" and "Falungong" without trouble:

So the filtering of MSN Spaces China appears limited to the blog's title only. Titles of individual posts and within the body of posts do not appear to be filtered.

Comments

[laurence haughton]

I been following the Google, Microsoft, Cisco etc. China story through the blogs.
It's "must" reading and "must" commenting for every armchair pundit and professional blog scribbler.
Here's my initial take:

When I was young and I used to sing along with Roger Daltry on the radio ("I hope I die before I get old... talkin' 'bout my generation,") I wasn't worried about wrinkles.

I was promising myself I would never become a craven opportunist, a sellout, a silent majority CreeP (as in Committee to Re-elect the President) like the man in the grey flannel suit.

Tell me why the youthful versions of the folks at Microsoft, Cisco, Google etc. wouldn't be up in arms at what their mature selves have agreed to with the Chinese Government. I want to understand it and believe in them.

[Bevan]

Hi The "great firewall of china " and censorship is a real pain in the butt. I am a chinese language student and would like to practice my chinese, therefore I have no choice but use to msn spaces. I wish there was a way I could avoid using msn spaces, but still have my friends in china to read and reply to my blogs.

[farhadalishah]

I am Shah. I have grown a strong attachment to Chinese these days.
How long can it go? That i don't know but it COULD die out if you
gals and guys don't respond positively.
farhad(UNDERSCORE)alishah(AT)yahoo(DOT)com.
Thanks.
I am MA Eng and dream about becoming an MA Chinese. I love
travelling, blogging, learning mandarin etc. I can teach you
English (only if you need it). I have a good collection of
amazing files. And astonishingly, i want visa on each and
every empty page of my Passport. I love humanity for the
sake of humanity. I can't bear to see some one with tears
in the eyes. I feel too much about those who need food,
clothes and shelter. Education has been a driving force
so for for me. Sympathy, guidance and love are the things,
i think all the human race is in dire need of which. I want
to share my thoughts with those who know how to hear someone
and who are eager to become good neighbours in the global village.
I hate lies. Cheating is No.1 crime in my book of morals and my
school of ethics. A human being with cheat should not be called
a son of man. He is coward and worse than the very name of hate.
Chinese is my favorite language. I love chinese songs. Chinese
are trutworthy people and they are full of unstained loveful
emotions. Please respond tome positively at:
farhad (UNDERSCORE)alishah(AT)yahoo(DOT)com.
Wishing you best of luck for now and always.
IT IS SHAH.....................
the chinese language lover and admirer.
How can i say good bye in chinese??????