Re: Internet groups agree on principles to deal with censorship (FT)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Morris <jmorris () cdt org>
Date: February 3, 2007 12:14:39 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Internet groups agree on principles to deal with  
censorship (FT)

Dave,

The forwarded article is somewhat less than clear on one critical  
point -- the companies and human rights groups have agreed to work to  
draft principles, and have not yet reached final agreement.  The  
discussions have been organized jointly by Business for Social  
Responsibility and the Center for Democracy & Technology, and are on- 
going.

John

----------------------------------------
John B. Morris, Jr.
Director, Internet Standards, Technology
   & Policy Project
Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 I Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 637-9800
jmorris () cdt org
http://www.cdt.org
----------------------------------------


At 9:47 AM -0500 2/2/07, David Farber wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Kobrin, Steve" <kobrins () wharton upenn edu>
> Date: January 19, 2007 8:53:07 AM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Internet groups agree on principles to deal with  
> censorship (FT)
>
> Financial Times Internet groups respond to China critics
> By Jonathan Birchall in New York and Richard Waters in San Francisco
>
> Published: January 18 2007 20:00 | Last updated: January 18 2007 20:00
>
> Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Vodafone have announced an agreement  
> with human rights groups, internet freedom activists and others to  
> establish a set of principles covering how they deal with  
> censorship and other restrictions that could harm human rights in  
> China and elsewhere.
>
> The move comes in the wake of public criticism of big US online  
> companies last year over their activities in China. It echoes other  
> voluntary "multi-stakeholder" initiatives that have emerged in  
> recent years in response to public protest, covering issues such as  
> the use of local security forces by oil and mining companies, and  
> conditions in the clothing and footwear supply chains.
>
> The four companies have agreed to work with non-governmental  
> organisations to "seek solutions to the free expression and privacy  
> challenges faced by technology and communications companies doing  
> business internationally", according to a statement on Thursday.
>
> A senior executive at one of the companies warned that a voluntary  
> code of practice was unlikely to have much practical effect.
>
> "The fantasy is, we're all going to say we're going to stop  
> censorship," the executive said. "The issue is not whether we're  
> doing this in good faith, the question is, what's the leverage?"
>
> However, an official at one of the human rights groups involved  
> said that by adopting a common front and making issues such as  
> censorship a subject of their broader negotiations with foreign  
> governments, the companies might succeed in rolling back some  
> censorship of their web search engines.
>
> The response of the US companies involved also comes against the  
> background of an effort to promote online freedom regulations in  
> Congress. Chris Smith, a Democratic member of the House of  
> Representatives, held hearings in Washington on such freedom issues  
> last year.
>
> This month he reintroduced his Global Online Freedom Act, which  
> would set minimum standards for internet companies, including that  
> search engines should not be located in "internet restricting"  
> countries and that search engines cannot alter or filter the  
> results of their searches at the behest of governments.
>
> The initiative follows criticism of Google over its decision last  
> year to set up a separate Chinese-language search engine that  
> censored results for sensitive topics such as human rights and Tibet.
>
> Yahoo has also been criticised by human rights groups including  
> Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch over its decision to  
> hand over e-mail account data to the Chinese government that has  
> led to the imprisonment of "cyber dissidents".
>
> Microsoft has also faced criticism over censoring social sites in  
> China.
>
> Cisco, which joined Google, Yahoo and Microsoft before Congress  
> last year over its record in China, has not joined the initiative.
>
> Vodafone, the European telecommunications company, is actively  
> involved in a range of corporate social responsibility issues, and  
> has not faced criticism over internet freedom issues.
>
> Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
>
>
> -------------------------------------------
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