● 09.09.11

●● Cablegate: Microsoft Receives Complaints for Censoring Search Results in Hong Kong Without Government Demands

Posted in Asia, Cablegate, Microsoft at 2:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Insight into Microsoft’s censorship in China/Hong Kong and what was causing it (or not causing it)

CENSORSHIP in search is a subjective issue and in order to understand it better, one might wish to know who is pressuring who.

A manager from Microsoft “insisted Microsoft was not asked by the Hong Kong government or any other government to implement filtering but then said she would have to confirm this. She added that Microsoft had used this filtering functionality since Bing’s launch but that the strict setting in some Asia countries was implemented only in September 2009.”

It is also said “that Microsoft had not received any customer complaints or inquiries about the strict SafeSearch setting used in Hong Kong until the SCMP article appeared. She also noted that her office had received inquires from the Hong Kong government.”

Here is the full Cablegate cable.

>

VZCZCXRO2783

PP RUEHCN RUEHGH

DE RUEHHK #0112 0201048

ZNR UUUUU ZZH

P 201048Z JAN 10

FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9438

INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS HONG KONG 000112

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM, EEB/CIP, OES/STC AND OES/PCI

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: ECON, ETRD, HK, TINT, SOCI, CH

SUBJECT: HONG KONG YAHOO AND MICROSOFT BLOCK ADULT CONTENT

1. (U) Hong Kong's major English daily, the South China

Morning Post (SCMP), reported January 17 that both

Yahoo.com.hk and Microsoft's Bing search engine in Hong Kong

were now blocking adult content through the use of strict

"SafeSearch" filters. Users of the Yahoo-owned Flickr photo

sharing website in Hong Kong were also reportedly prohibited

from posting or sharing adult content. Although users in

most jurisdictions are able to customize search parameters to

include or exclude adult content, Hong Kong users do not have

that option. The SCMP reported both Yahoo and Microsoft

attributed their strict filtering to their desire to respect

"local customs, norms and laws," and noted that both

companies enforced similar restrictions in South Korea, India

and Singapore.

2. (SBU) Yahoo! Asia Director for Public Policy Patrick Chu

confirmed to EconOff that Yahoo! did use SafeSearch to filter

pornographic images from its Hong Kong searches. He denied

the SCMP implication that this was a new policy, however.

Yahoo! had been filtering adult content since 2007, said Chu.

Hong Kong law makes it an offense to publish obscene

articles or pictures. In the wake of legal cases in 2007 and

2008 that resulted in fines for individuals convicted of

linking to or posting lewd material, Yahoo! decided to filter

searches to protect its local staff and directors, said Chu.

Yahoo!'s decision to filter this material was purely its own,

he said, and denied that the Hong Kong government had ever

contacted Yahoo! Asia regarding its treatment of adult

content. Chu insisted that Yahoo! Asia was committed to

internet freedom and did not filter searches for other

content. The SCMP article was the first time anyone had

raised the issue since Yahoo! Asia began using SafeSearch,

said Chu.

3. (SBU) Microsoft's Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs

Winnie Yeung similarly told EconOff that Microsoft used

SafeSearch to filter adult content from its Hong Kong

searches. Yeung felt the SCMP article was misleading since

the strict SafeSearch setting was used in several Asian

countries, not just Hong Kong. The reason was that these

countries were considered "more conservative." She insisted

Microsoft was not asked by the Hong Kong government or any

other government to implement filtering but then said she

would have to confirm this. She added that Microsoft had

used this filtering functionality since Bing's launch but

that the strict setting in some Asia countries was

implemented only in September 2009. Yeung stated that

Microsoft had not received any customer complaints or

inquiries about the strict SafeSearch setting used in Hong

Kong until the SCMP article appeared. She also noted that

her office had received inquires from the Hong Kong

government.

MARUT

Around that same time Microsoft was slammed for censoring results not just for sexual content. Some called for a boycott, even in the New York Times.█

called for a boycott

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