Internet giants to tackle China's
censorship By Indrajit Basu
KOLKATA - As China once again moves to
tighten regulation of the Internet, a new force is
forming in the West to address challenges to free
expression and privacy faced by technology and
communications companies doing business
internationally.
Faced with increasing
criticism from global human-rights groups for
bowing to Internet censorship in many countries -
particularly in China - US-based Internet giants
such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have finally
joined forces with a diverse range of companies
and organizations to define online privacy rights
and
freedom of expression.
On January 18, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo
and UK-based Vodafone formed an alliance with the
Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT),
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), and
other companies, academics, investors, technology
leaders and rights organizations to produce a set
of principles guiding company behavior when faced
with laws, regulations and policies that threaten
human rights.
Simultaneously, this new
force is also working on how to advance civil
liberties on the Internet in the face of laws that
run contrary to international human-rights
standards.
"Technology companies have
played a vital role in building the economy and
providing tools important for democratic reform in
developing countries," said Leslie Harris,
executive director of CDT. "But many governments
have found ways to turn technology against their
citizens - monitoring legitimate online activities
and censoring democratic material. It is vital
that we identify solutions that preserve the
enormous democratic value provided by
technological development, while at the same time
protecting the human rights and civil liberties of
those who stand to benefit from that expansion."
According to the new combined group, in
addition to developing the principles, it will
seek to advance their effectiveness by
establishing a framework to implement them, hold
signatories accountable and provide for learning.
The process, the group said, marks a new phase in
efforts that the members began last year when
Google, Microsoft, Vodafone and Yahoo, with the
facilitation of BSR and advice from the Berkman
Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law
School, initiated a series of dialogues to gain a
fuller understanding of free expression and
privacy as they relate to the use of technology
worldwide.
Indeed, this announcement comes
at a time when governments of countries such as
Iran, Vietnam and particularly China are
increasingly using technology such as the Internet
to clamp down on freedom of speech. For instance,
within a week after these companies joined forces,
China's news agency, Xinhua, announced that the
president of China, Hu Jintao, had called for
further regulation of the Internet as the world's
most populous country rapidly moves toward passing
the US in number of Internet users. Xinhua said Hu
made the call to the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China, urging it to "actively
and creatively nurture a healthy online culture"
that meets public demand.
The Chinese
government, it appears, wants to use the Internet
as a Communist Party propaganda tool, a medium for
spreading "healthy information". Vowing to "purify
the Internet environment" through better
regulation and other measures, Hu was quoted by
Xinhua as saying: "We should spread more
information that is in good taste, and promote
online products that can represent the grand
Chinese culture."
Rights groups say China
has always forced Internet and
information-technology companies to collude with
Beijing in censoring the Internet, particularly US
firms Google, Cisco, Yahoo and others. They have
come under fire numerous times in the past two
years because, allegedly to ensure access to the
huge Chinese market, they have collaborated with
the authorities to prevent users from accessing
"unwelcome" sites focusing on such issues as
freedom, democracy, Taiwan and Tiananmen Square.
Some were even accused of revealing the identity
of authors of articles, which led to their arrest
and imprisonment. The formation of the group
therefore "is an important development because it
shows these companies have stepped up, [and are]
willing to work with human-rights groups to
improve the situation',' said Harris.
Although both facilitators of this
initiative, CDT and BSR, are unwilling to reveal
the set of principles - expected to be formulated
by the end of the year - the group is founded on,
Michael Samway, vice president and deputy general
counsel at Yahoo, said some of the questions the
group will answer are: "Should we focus our
concerns on censorship of political speech? Should
companies draw the line at doing business
somewhere based on the type of speech a government
limits? Would it be a decision based on the
quantity or the quality of limitations? And using
which standards and measures? Could Article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provide
a starting point? And very importantly, how far
can a company go in challenging local laws and
orders?"
There is a fear that the group
will find it difficult to agree on a set of
principles. Steve Lippman of Trillium Asset
Management, one of the members of the group, said
that although there's "cautious optimism" that a
consensus will emerge, "there is no guarantee".
Meanwhile, pressure on the US-based
Internet companies to refuse to bow to censorship
from various governments is mounting. Last month,
for instance, US Congressman Christopher Smith,
the Republican chairman of the Subcommittee on
International Operations and Human Rights,
reintroduced proposed legislation that seeks to
impose restrictions and fines on US companies
operating in "Internet-restricting countries".
Reports suggest that the measure has the
support of Democrats as well, and is slated to get
more attention this year. But the problem is that
not all US-based technology companies are willing
to cooperate. Networking giant Cisco - which is
building networks for Chinese communications
companies - is facing criticism for not
participating in the effort. However, the company
insists it does not contribute in any way to
censorship by governments and merely sells
equipment to China, having no control over what is
done with it.
In fact, some of the
Internet giants even say China's efforts to crack
down on the Internet are driven more by
protection-seeking local rivals than the
government's desire to restrict freedom of speech.
At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, Sergey Brin, Google's president of
technology, told reporters that Internet policing
may be the result of lobbying by local
competitors.
The members of the group are:
Amnesty International, Berkman Center for Internet
and Society at Harvard Law School, Boston Common
Asset Management, Business for Social
Responsibility (facilitator), Calvert Group,
Center for Democracy and Technology (facilitator),
Committee to Protect Journalists, Domini Social
Investments LLC, Electronic Frontier Foundation,
Enterprise Privacy Group, F&C Asset
Management, Google Inc, Human Rights First, Human
Rights in China, Human Rights Watch, International
Business Leaders Forum, International Council on
Human Rights Policy, Microsoft, Reporters Without
Borders, Trillium Asset Management, the United
Nations Special Representative to the Secretary
General on Business and Human Rights (observer
status), the University of California-Berkeley
School of Law-Boalt Hall, Vodafone, and Yahoo Inc.
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