...[Industry] should advocate policies and principles that maximize the value of the Internet for individual users, including basic protections for freedom of expression... National law and policy set parameters in every country in which we do business, and private companies are required to give them due deference as a condition of engaging in business there. That does not mean that compliance with local law is a matter of deferring reflexively to local authorities or endorsing any specific policy or ideology. Restrictions on content should involve ongoing consultations in which the objective of private operators is to protect the integrity of their services and the privacy of their customers... The example that has received the most attention to our services in China involved the removal of a well-known blogging site on MSN Spaces authored under the pseudonym of “Michael Anti” at the request of the Chinese government. The details of that case have been carefully reviewed, and although we do not think we could have changed the Chinese government’s determination to block this particular site, we regret having to do so and have since clarified the manner in which we will deal with similar requests in the future.