Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Internet Freedom: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo Near Agreement
8/7/2008
|
|
Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are "close to agreement" on a code of conduct for Internet technology companies that are doing business in countries restricting citizen dissent and speech rights, according to an announcement issued Monday by United States Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL.
Durbin, who chairs the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, part of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, held hearings on the matter May 20. The event drew executive testimonies from the three companies, along with Cisco Systems.
A catalyzing event that may have led to the hearings was the case of Hu Jia, a Chinese blogger sentenced to more than three years in prison in China for criticizing its human rights record. Information supplied by Yahoo led to Hu Jia's imprisonment. Durbin, in his opening remarks at the hearing, said that four people have been jailed in China based on information supplied by Yahoo.
In response to requests from Durbin and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, the companies and nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, among others, are currently considering a voluntary code of conduct and have been for about 20 months. No date for an agreement has yet been specified, but a spokesperson for Senator Durbin's office, Max Fleishman, suggested that it might happen in the fall.
"They've agreed in principle to a set code of conduct," Fleishman said. "This is the three Internet groups we named directly--Google, Yahoo and Microsoft--in addition to a large number of other stakeholders, human rights groups, NGOs, other technology firms. They've all agreed in principle to this code. We don't anticipate the final agreement and the final language of this code to be finished for another few weeks--perhaps I would estimate it sometime in September."
That date seems to match a statement from Pamela S. Passman, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Global Corporate Affairs, who described Microsoft's work on a so-called "Information, Communications and Technology Initiative."
"Over the next few months, the Initiative will be finalizing organizational steps.... We anticipate a more detailed public announcement to launch the Initiative sometime this fall," Passman wrote in a letter dated July 29, 2008 to Sens. Durbin and Coburn.
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
