Microsoft Geopolitical Policy Statement
Published: February 11, 2009
Microsoft is committed to delivering products and services that are respectful and considerate of local laws, culture, and customs. We strive for accuracy in our products and services.
The development of Microsoft products and services includes a vigorous, multi-level review process to help ensure that text, symbols, images, and graphics are evaluated for worldwide suitability before our products and services reach customers.
For more than 10 years, the Geopolitical Policy team in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group has directed these efforts and provided the tools and resources for geopolitical content quality.
Microsoft uses a combination of proprietary tools, guidelines, and standards to find potentially sensitive content. Microsoft’s process is implemented primarily throughout the product development cycle, in order to reduce the likelihood of content that may be deemed inappropriate or unacceptable in the locales we are shipping into.
The Geopolitical Policy team also maintains an advisory group of Microsoft employees worldwide who are willing to lend their unique, place-based perspective on geopolitical content questions. Expert guidance and escalation processes are in place to address geopolitical content questions and requests as they arise.
We strive to respect the many markets, customs, and cultures worldwide in which we operate. Our long-term investment in geopolitical content quality helps Microsoft bring the best possible products and services to market. This investment is one way to help ensure customers have a better, more trustworthy experience with Microsoft products and services.
Microsoft Cartographic Policy Statement
As a responsible global corporation, Microsoft recognizes that diverse and sometimes conflicting views of geography exist in the world. Microsoft seeks to remain as neutral as possible, while providing accurate and informative mapping products.
In dealing with disputed areas, our cartographers strive for detailed and neutral depictions and to present differing points of view where appropriate. In areas of cartographic uncertainty:
| • | Microsoft follows the decisions of the International Court of Justice on geographic disputes. |
| • | In the absence of a legal agreement or judgment, Microsoft weighs the practices and opinions of United Nations bodies, the International Organization for Standardization, regional political organizations, and independent academic and research organizations to determine if a significant international consensus exists. |
| • | When there is no legal judgment or significant international consensus regarding a particular geographic sovereignty or border dispute between two nations, Microsoft will depict the area as disputed. |
