Internet Giants Unveil Global Code Of Conduct
A broad coalition of leading information and communications companies, human rights groups, academics, investors and technology leaders on Tuesday launched its long-awaited effort to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet. The Global Network Initiative, founded on a list of agreed upon principles, will be supported by specific implementation commitments and a framework for accountability and learning that will provide a systematic approach for companies, nonprofits and others to resist efforts by governments that want to enlist high-tech firms in acts of censorship and surveillance.
Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin indicated in an August press release that stakeholders, who worked for more than 18 months on the project, had agreed on a voluntary code of conduct. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee said the guidelines would be an important step toward "promoting freedom of expression and protecting the privacy of Internet users around the world." He and Senate Judiciary Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee ranking member Tom Coburn, R-Okla., wrote to the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo in July urging them to act ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
The initiative was launched in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and requires significant new commitments from participating companies, including: establishing greater transparency with users; assessing human rights risk; requesting the legal rationale for government actions and policies; training employees; challenging human rights violations; and providing whistle-blowing mechanisms through which violations of the principles can be reported.
"The number of states actively seeking to censor online content and access personal information is growing, and the means employed - technical, social, legal, political - are increasingly sophisticated, often placing internet and telecommunications companies in difficult positions," said Colin Maclay, who heads Harvard University 's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. "A strong code of conduct for companies embodies the most promising approach to dilemmas that neither national law nor international regulation can effectively resolve at this time."
Center for Democracy and Technology President Leslie Harris said the initiative aims to "sow the seeds of a global standard that will be adopted by companies and promoted by advocates of digital rights worldwide." The Committee to Protect Journalists' Robert Mahoney added that the project is "a first step, but a landmark first step, toward putting the basic human rights of freedom of expression and privacy front and center in the battle between the public and the gatekeepers of communication and information."
Google's public policy director Andrew McLaughlin touted his company's strong record of promoting freedom of expression and protecting users' rights and said the firm joined the initiative "because we know that a wide range of groups working together can achieve much more than the company acting alone." Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said the group's guiding principles "provide a valuable roadmap for companies like Yahoo operating in markets where freedom of expression and privacy are unfairly restricted." "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," he said.
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