Violations of the MSN Spaces Code of Conduct may result in the termination of access to MSN Spaces services or deletion of content without notice.

You will not upload, post, transmit, transfer, disseminate, distribute, or facilitate distribution of any content, including text, images, sound, data, information, or software, that:

• incites, advocates, or expresses pornography, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, hatred, bigotry, racism, or gratuitous violence.
• misrepresents the source of anything you post, including impersonation of another individual or entity.
• provides or create links to external sites that violate this Code of Conduct.
  is intended to harm or exploit minors in any way.
• is designed to solicit, or collect personally identifiable information of any minor (anyone under 18 years old), including, but not limited to: name, email address, home address, phone number, or the name of their school.
• invades anyone's privacy by attempting to harvest, collect, store, or publish private or personally identifiable information, such as passwords, account information, credit card numbers, addresses, or other contact information without their foreknowledge and willing consent.
• is illegal or violates any local and national laws that apply to your location; including but not limited to child pornography, illegal drugs, copyright material and intellectual property not belonging to you.
• is intended to threaten, stalk, defame, defraud, degrade, victimize, or intimidate an individual or group of individuals for any reason; including on the basis of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race, or religion; or to incite or encourage any one else to do so.
• intends to harm or disrupt another user's computer or would allow others to illegally access software or bypass security on Web sites, or servers, including but not limited to spamming.
• attempts to impersonate a Microsoft employee, agent, manager, host, another user, or any other person though any means.

Termination and Cancellation

Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to review and remove user-created services and content at will and without notice, and delete postings or ban participants that are deemed objectionable.

On the other hand is the question of whether this type of censorship is good for blogs. Isn't the whole point of blogging being able to express yourself? Plus, who exactly is determining if content meets these criteria? Is it individual people? A group of people? An automated engine that searches for certain criteria? What constitutes grounds for removing the blog (space)? Do users get any warnings?

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what type of content was being posted by Zhao Jing(Michael Anti). The limited information I've read seems to indicate that he pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable. Is that like Howard Stern on US Radio where he was fined by the FCC? I don't know. I'll publish any updates as I see more information on this.

- posted by Ben Winzenz @ 3:37 PM