Microsoft Corp. is tightening its policies regarding shutting down Web journals after its much-publicized shutdown of a well-known Chinese blogger at that governments request.

The Redmond software company which operates a popular blogging technology called MSN Spaces, said Tuesday that the changes will include efforts to make the banned content available to users elsewhere in the world even if Microsoft decides it has a legal duty to block it in a particular country.

The company also pledged to provide users with a clear notice that it has shut down a Web site because it received a legally binding notice that the material violates local laws. Previously, it has simply said the content was unavailable.

Brad Smith, Microsofts top lawyer, said in an interview that it will depend on the circumstances of the shutdown as to whether the new policy means that an archive of the blog will remain available elsewhere, or that the Web blogs author will be able to continue posting information to users outside the country that ordered the blockage.

Read more of this interesting story courtesy of cnn