LISBON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill
Gates said on Wednesday that government attempts
to censor Web sites or blogs would fail since the
banned information could get out in defiance of
official efforts.
The spread of private e-mail means online users
could distribute banned news despite government
injunctions, he told a news conference.
"You may be able to take a very visible Web site
and say that something shouldn't be there, but if
there's a desire by the population to know
something, it's going to get out," he said.
However, Gates said Microsoft, the world's biggest
computer software company, had to meet legal
requirements of the countries where it does
business.
Microsoft pulled the blog, or Web log, of a critic
of the Chinese government in December after
getting a government order to do so.
Brad Smith, Microsoft's chief counsel, said on
Tuesday that company was creating rules to deal
with government complaints about Web sites and
blogs Microsoft hosted.
Gates was in Lisbon for a Microsoft-sponsored
forum on how to use Internet technology to make
the public sector more effective.