Three Internet Giants Standing Up For Human Rights (Finally)

Earlier this week, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced their joint backing of the Global Network Initiative, aiming to persuade governments that employ censorship, particularly on the web, to give their citizens the right to free speech without fear of retribution. The three companies, as well as several other academics and businesses, have agreed to “respect and protect the freedom of expression rights of their users when confronted with government demands, laws and regulations to suppress freedom of expression, remove content or otherwise limit access to information and ideas in a manner inconsistent with internationally recognized laws and standards.”

Scientific American explains:

The organization’s most influential tech companies have come under fire for bowing to Chinese officials’ demands to filter Internet searches to bar surfers from accessing information about Tiananmen Square, democracy and other controversial issues, BBC News reports. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been taken a virtual beating from free speech advocates for shuttering the blog of Chinese media researcher Zhao Jing nearly three years ago after he used MSN Spaces (a joint venture between Microsoft and Shanghai Alliance Entertainment) to criticize a management purge at the Beijing News daily newspaper. Chinese reporter Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in jail after Yahoo! China provided the Chinese government with account information that linked Tao to a pseudonymous Web posting outlining the content of a government memorandum. Yahoo! claimed afterward that they had no information about the nature of the investigation when they gave the Chinese government the necessary information to identify Tao. That type of unquestioning compliance won’t cut it anymore, at least that’s the new initiative’s message.

However, as SciAm points out, participating entities have two years to prove they’re compliance with the initiative’s guidelines – and it’s not entirely clear what sort of penalty will be incurred should a company fail to meet them. But hey, it’s the thought that counts…?

Sciam: Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! Join Human Rights Initiative