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Internet Freedom: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo Near Agreement
8/7/2008
The code-of-conduct document currently isn't publicly available. However, it is supposed to have "three critical features," according to hearing testimony by Arvind Ganesan, director of Human Rights Watch's business and human rights program. Those features include:
- "A strong but reasonable code of conduct";
- "An effective but not overly bureaucratic governance process"; and
- "Independent monitoring of companies that sign on."
Ganesan, in his May testimony, said that "some companies continue to be very resistant to the idea of independent monitoring." He particularly cited Google as one of them, noting that two shareholder proposals on a board committee on human rights were voted down on May 8.
Google isn't alone there. Yahoo's shareholders, meeting this month, voted against "a proposal relating to Internet censorship" and defeated an amendment "to establish a Board committee on human rights," according to a Yahoo-issued press release.
Despite such potential resistance, an independent audit organization could still take shape, according to Danny O'Brien, international outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is one of the NGOs involved in the matter.
"There'll be a separate organization that will independently audit and manage the agreement. They will be in charge of assurance," O'Brien stated in an e-mailed response on Tuesday.
Yahoo has achieved "poster child" status on this issue with its disclosure of information to the Chinese government, according Ganesan. However, he cited a number of other countries where Internet use led to disclosures resulting in censorship and oppression, including in Egypt, Russia, Burma and Syria. Criticisms have also been heaped on the other Internet technology companies involved in the code-of-conduct negotiations.
Cisco has been accused of building "China's Great Firewall." The company is said to have trained Chinese authorities to use its router equipment for Internet monitoring and control under a so-called "Golden Shield Project." However, the company denied the claim, as described by Mark Chandler Cisco's vice president of legal services, general counsel and secretary, in the Senate hearing testimony.
Google has been accused of creating Google.cn, an Internet search portal that caters to the Chinese government's censorship policies. The site apparently tells users when information has been censored.
Microsoft is said to remove blogs at the request of oppressive governments, according to Durbin. Passman's letter to Durbin and Coburn stated that Microsoft will adhere to "existing company policy" in which "Microsoft will block access to Windows Live Spaces content only where we receive a legally binding notice from a government indicating that the material violates local laws, or if the content violates our terms of use."
Would the code of conduct put a stop to such behavior? O'Brien held out some hope.
"There are some limits to what the companies can practically do, and what they say are willing to agree to do in the face of a government demand," O'Brien stated. "Our hope is that a code of conduct like this will embolden any company to think first when faced with a government demand that contradicts international human rights agreements."
The May 20 testimonies of the companies before the Durbin Senate committee hearing can be accessed here.
Kurt Mackie is online news editor, Enterprise Group, at 1105 Media Inc. You can contact Kurt at kmackie@1105media.com.
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