Claim back the web
p2p news / p2pnet: Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Nortel Networks, Cisco Systems, Yahoo! and Google have been specifically named by Amnesty International as being among companies implicated in helping governments censor the Net, or track down users.
Now it wants Net users everywhere to go to http://irrepressible.info to sign a pledge calling on all governments and companies to respect Net freedom.
“Internet companies often claim to be ethically responsible,” the human rights body states. “These pledges will highlight how their cooperation in repression risks making them complicit in human rights abuses and damages their credibility.”
Irrepressible.info was initiated following the success of an earlier online Net freedom project in the UK and aims to, “claim back the web as a force for change in the face of an increasing willingness on the part of technology companies to aid censorship and repression,” says Amnesty
“Web users are locked up, internet cafes are shut down, chat rooms are policed and blogs deleted,” it states. “Websites are blocked, foreign news banned, and search engines filter out sensitive results.”
As an example of what’s happening, “In 2004, Microsoft released information about nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu to the Israeli authorities without his knowledge or consent,” says the announcement. “The data was initially used to prosecute Vanunu for having contact with foreign media.”
Vanunu had been banned from contacting foreign media by the Israeli authorities, says Amnesty International, adding:
“This ban, which is itself a violation of human rights, has just been extended for a further year. Though the judge in the ongoing Vanunu trial has now agreed not to use the information supplied by Microsoft, the data is in the hands of the Israeli authorities and could be used to continue to restrict his freedom and harass him further.”
To coincide with the launch of the international campaign, Amnesty International has released a report about the role of Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google in Net repression in China.
“The apparatus of internet repression is considered to be more advanced in China than in any other country and companies are particularly willing to cooperate with the Chinese government,” it states.
The report, called Undermining freedom of expression in China, The role of Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google, includes eight recommendations for action:
1. Publicly commit to honouring the freedom of expression provision in the Chinese constitution and lobby for the release of all cyber-dissidents and journalists imprisoned solely for the peaceful and legitimate exercise of their freedom of expression.
2. Be transparent about the filtering process used by the company in China and around the world and make public what words and phrases are filtered and how these words are selected.
3. Make publicly available all agreements between the company and the Chinese government with implications for censorship of information and suppression of dissent.
4. Exhaust all judicial remedies and appeals in China and internationally before complying with state directives where these have human rights implications. Make known to the government the company’s principled opposition to implementing any requests or directives which breach international human rights norms whenever such pressures are applied.
5. Develop an explicit human rights policy that states the company’s support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and complies with the UN Norms for Business and the UN Global Compact’s principle on avoiding complicity in human rights violations.
6. Clarify to what extent human rights considerations are taken into account in the processes and procedures that the company undertakes in deciding whether and how the company’s values and reputation will be compromised if it assists governments to censor access to the Internet.
7. Exercise leadership in promoting human rights in China through lobbying the government for legislative and social reform in line with international human rights standards, through seeking clarification of the existing legal framework and through adopting business practices that encourage China to comply with its human rights obligations.
8. Participate in and support the outcomes of a multi-stakeholder process to develop a set of guidelines relating to the Internet and human rights issues, as well as mechanisms for their implementation and verification, as part of broader efforts to promote recognition of the body of human rights principles applicable to companies.
Also See:
Amnesty International – Amnesty International launches global campaign against internet repression, July 20, 2006
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July 20th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
We ALL need to “Claim back the web” by clicking on the http://irrepressible.info link and doing our part!