There’s a hue and cry being raised about Microsoft’s new MSN portal in China not allowing Chinese users to access or share certain “forbidden” sites and ideas on the Internet.

In particular, Chinese users of MSN’s blogging service, MSN Spaces, are forbidden from using certain terms in their blog entries, including “democracy,” “freedom,” “human rights,” “Taiwan independence,” and “demonstration.”

In fact, Chinese bloggers who attempt to use those phrases in their MSN My Spaces blog entries are met with the warning “This item should not contain forbidden speech such as profanity. Please enter a different word for this item.”

Of course, this is not the only instance of an Internet portal giant yielding to China’s censorship demands. Reporters without Borders blasted Google last year for creating a special version of its Google News for China.

According to Reporters without Borders, “China is censoring Google News to force Internet users to use the Chinese version of the site which has been purged of…

[Continue reading MSN Joins Google & Yahoo! In Blocking Chinese Users From Accessing, Using Forbidden Terms & Content]