This is a joke, right?
So it appears that Microsoft has entered into an agreement with the Chinese government to develop software that filters out select keywords such as ‘democracy’, ‘Taiwanese independence’ and ‘freedom’.
Makes me wonder if they already haven’t done it over here. Somewhat creepy, don’t you think?
Even more creepy is this statement by Bill Gates:
For Microsoft, it appears to be a concession to authoritarianism on the net. It comes only months after Microsoft’s boss, Bill Gates, praised China’s leaders, who have mixed market economics with rigid political control. “It is a brand new form of capitalism, and as a consumer it’s the best thing that ever happened,” he said.
I don’t like this. At all. Is this the future of the internet? I sure hope not.
You can almost see coming, a two-tiered or multi-tiered internet where the legitimate stuff is accessible on Internet2 or through pre-filtered browsers. Maybe Maurice Strong has plans for his ManyOne web browser to make inroads to China.
