Microsoft hates Freedom and Democracy!!!

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Asher
The fact that the commies here are relentlessly trying to blame an "evil corporation" for simply complying with laws set by the communist government is ridiculously telling of the mindset of people who think a communist government could actually work...

I don't get what you are saying here either, but profiting from oppressing the Chinese people certainly is no less evil than what the govt is doing.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Kidicious
I don't get what you are saying here either, but profiting from oppressing the Chinese people certainly is no less evil than what the govt is doing.

Either way the Chinese people are being oppressed -- all software must meet the same censorship options.

Again, the problem is with the Chinese government and the laws they force everyone to abide by, not the law-abiding companies.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

I still think you're a complete embarassment for UofT, or perhaps the perfect example of the kind of rubbish that passes for teaching Philosophy in today's universities.

Nice try at changing the subject. No sale.

[Spiffor]

The troll potential of the quoted article is immense

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Nice try at changing the subject. No sale.

It was an aside.

You're the one avoiding any discussion on it.

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by Hueij

Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Asher

Either way the Chinese people are being oppressed -- all software must meet the same censorship options.

Again, the problem is with the Chinese government and the laws they force everyone to abide by, not the law-abiding companies.

Oh yeah, sure. And if someone hires a hit man to assasinate someone the hit man isn't a problem.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Spiffor
The troll potential of the quoted article is immense

Yes it is, isn't it. I'd hoped for a better response, but it's come down to right wing people complaining about the sort of coercion that they spend most of their time denying the existence of.

How ironic.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Kidicious


Oh yeah, sure. And if someone hires a hit man to assasinate someone the hit man isn't a problem.

Don't waste your time Kid. He's impervious to logic. What will happen now is that he will repeat essentially the same proposition over and over again in an orgy of question begging.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Yes it is, isn't it. I'd hoped for a better response, but it's come down to right wing people complaining about the sort of coercion that they spend most of their time denying the existence of.

How ironic.

Chinese Communist Government enacts laws censoring human rights expressions, forces any companies with such products to abide by local laws.

Companies abide by laws set by Chinese Communist Government.

Communist posters on Apolyton call the law-abiding corporations evil and assert anyone who doesn't see this is impervious to logic?

[Imran Siddiqui]

My, my, my... One wonders if Agathon started the thread so he could indulge in his own masochistic self-pwnage.

Blaming Microsoft for China's policies and then quickly trying to change the subjec to the US media? I don't think Kid has self-pwned himself this badly, this quickly.

[Agathon]

Because you assume that the corporations are coerced into selling their stuff in China. It's nice that you bring up IBM and the holocaust. If that was true, it's quite similar and just as objectionable. No-one is forcing any corporation to sell its products in China.

Corporations are saying: "Oh.. we detest attempts to silence political speech, but if there's money in it, we'll overlook our scruples and blame the Chinese government."

The point is that blaming the Chinese government doesn't absolve western corporations from blame. Blame is not a zero sum game. Your position is consistent with western companies killing people to make their products if that is "the law" somewhere. Of course they can't be to blame in the Asherverse.

As I said before, it would be no different to a company I ran engaging in homophobic practices to secure a contract because it was "the law". Better to pass up the contract.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
My, my, my... One wonders if Agathon started the thread so he could indulge in his own masochistic self-pwnage.

Blaming Microsoft for China's policies and then quickly trying to change the subjec to the US media? I don't think Kid has self-pwned himself this badly, this quickly.

Um who did that?

I don't blame them for China's polices (that would be absurd), just for colluding with them to make money. That's a big difference.

[Asher]

As I said before, it would be no different to a company I ran engaging in homophobic practices to secure a contract because it was "the law". Better to pass up the contract.

If the laws of the country you do business in forbid hiring homosexuals, you do not hire homosexuals.

Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft doesn't hold a lot of sway in the Chinese government. They gain nothing and lose a lot by refusing to sell products there.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Um who did that?

I don't blame them for China's polices (that would be absurd), just for colluding with them to make money. That's a big difference.

No, you're blaming them for abiding by local law.

For some reason, you get all up in arms of US companies violate law (like, say, Enron), but you seem to think it's in company's best interests to not abide by the laws sometimes?

Microsoft's policy is to abide by local law in every country they operate in. Period.

That's what they're doing, and that's not wrong. If you've got a beef with the laws, deal with the communists who made them, and not the people abiding by them.