Some question tech firms' human rights project

Computerworld - A new project is aimed at offering companies a systematic approach to resisting online censorship and surveillance pressures from totalitarian governments such as those of China and Libya. The effort has support from technology heavyweights Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc., each of which has come under fire for succumbing at times to such governmental coercion.

The Global Network Initiative -- whose sponsors include technology companies, human rights organizations and investment companies -- aims to provide participants with a formal approach to combating pressures to comply with foreign laws that require censorship and disclosure of personal information.

Yahoo, Google and Microsoft have been criticized for their responses to requests by foreign governments to censor Internet activity or to disclose private information about their users. For example, Chinese dissidents have filed two major lawsuits against Yahoo, charging that the Internet firm aided Chinese authorities in arresting some dissidents by handing over e-mails and other electronic communication.

Meanwhile, Google has been criticized for filtering the Chinese version of its search engine by taking out controversial topics related to China and for adding search results considered by some to be propaganda. And Microsoft was slammed for blocking a site run by a Chinese blogger who was critical of the government.

A report released in June found that documented arrests of bloggers not associated with official news organizations tripled from 2006 to 2007, according to the "World Information Access 2008 Report" compiled by the University of Washington. Iran, China and Egypt accounted for more than half of all the arrests since 2003, according to the report.

The Global Network Initiative guidelines suggest that companies seek written reasons from government agencies when they request actions that may violate human rights or restrict freedom. Explanations would require that respondents include the name of the government entity and the name, title and signature of the official who is requesting an action.

The project participants also committed to establishing a greater transparency with users and provide them whistle-blowing mechanisms through which questionable requests can be reported, the group said in a statement.

Mark Feldstein, an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, noted that despite the well-meaning objectives of the project, there are strong economic incentives for technology companies to "play ball" with China so they can operate in the country's growing economic landscape. "Even if you give them the benefit of the doubt and view this as well-meaning, the reality is that when push comes to shove, these governments are going to make decisions in their own interest and will force these companies to heel, regardless of what is written up [in the guidelines]."