Tech initiative aims to protect privacy, free speech online

Companies including Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft on Tuesday joined with human rights groups to launch an initiative aimed at protecting free expression and privacy on the Internet on a global scale.

The Global Network Initiative will provide guidelines for communications technology companies to follow in response to laws in various countries that may interfere with an Internet user's privacy or freedom of expression. Members of the initiative have agreed to ensure that their activities and business operations reflect the principles it aims to protect.

"These principles provide a valuable road map for companies like Yahoo operating in markets where freedom of expression and privacy are unfairly restricted," said Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang. "Through the collective efforts of industry, advocates, and government we will continue to see technology and the Internet as a way to improve people's lives."

Internet companies have come under fire for their operations abroad. Politicians roundly criticized Yahoo for its role in the imprisonment of Chinese dissident journalists. Lawmakers have also assailed Google for its China policies.

The new initiative is supported by human rights groups including Human Rights First, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, and Human Rights in China. The process of creating the initiative was facilitated by the Center for Democracy and Technology and Business for Social Responsibility.

The initiative's Web site, www.globalnetworkinitiative.org, will go live on Wednesday.

[Wookiee-1138]

I'll sign up.
Hell, I might even donate!

[mark81295]

While a corporate organized consortium of self-governance is long overdue, I'm suspicious of the notable absence of a consumer advocacy voice in the GNI's governance framework. Thus, I suspect ad companies will benefit from this multi-lateral approach in navigating foreign routes to market. But without a voice of the customer in this process, the "privacy" portion of their mission will not be realized in the wake of ad companies' current privacy/data collection practices. These are still being debated in the public forum and will go unchecked by the GNI as currently organized.

See more on this topic at: http://www.theprivacycops.com/