Daily Archives: June 14, 2005

That free market Africa needs so badly

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Well, well. Some folks who won tickets for the Live 8 concert have been auctioning them on eBay. Tut, tut. Terrible thing, capitalism — though of course just what Africa needs, according to Western finance ministers.

Meanwhile, St. Bob Geldof is not amused.

Geldof demanded the immediate removal of tickets being sold on the site.

He said: “I am sick with this. It is a disgrace. It is completely against the interests of the poor.

“The people who are selling these tickets on websites are miserable wretches who are capitalising on people’s misery. I am appealing to their sense of decency to stop this disgusting greed.”

An eBay spokeswoman said: “We have offered to make a donation to the Live 8 organisers at least equivalent to the fees we collect from the sale of Live 8 tickets.”

Microsoft deletes ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ in China

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From a Register story:

Microsoft has bowed to Beijing’s political censors and has banned the use of the words “freedom” and “democracy” on some areas of its Chinese internet portal, along with a host of other politically sensitive words such as “Taiwan independence” and “demonstration”.

According to the Financial Times, portal operators have imposed the restriction on the names users give their blogs, although the words can still be used within blog’s text. Users who try to use the offensive terminology are met with error messages informing them that they have used “forbidden speech”, which they are asked to delete from the item.

Microsoft’s statement on ‘Corporate Citizenship’ says:

Microsoft is committed to being a responsible industry partner. We work with businesses, communities, and governments to help advance social and economic well–being, and to enable people around the world to realize their full potential.

Er, except, it seems, in China.