Oh no, Mr. Bill! Microsoft and Chinese blogs don't mix

Several days ago, we told you about Chinese blogger Anti getting muzzled for his recent reports about the Beijing News imbroglio. Now, China blog watcher Rebecca MacKinnon reports that it wasn't the Chinese censors that put the kibosh on Anti's MSN Spaces blog -- it was the friendly folks at Microsoft. MacKinnon's post is well worth a read. Blogger and Microsoft employee Robert Scoble is pissed at his company and has offered Anti an uncensored forum to guest blog on his site. (Anti, by the way, seems to have resuscitated his Blog-City blog, which, like all Blog-City blogs, is blocked in China.) It's not a good PR day in the blogosphere for Microsoft -- even the right-wingers are bashing Bill Gates for cuddling up with the "commies." We at Shanghaiist, proud Apple users, doubt Mr. Bill has ever even heard of Mr. Anti. But perhaps this latest development will help shed some mainstream light on the prickly issue of Western companies aiding and abetting China's internet police.