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.