Internet companies abuse free expression
12 January 2006
INTERNATIONAL: Do Internet companies need to be regulated to
ensure they respect free expression? asks RSF
IFEX - News from the international freedom of
_expression
community
_________________________________________________________________
CAPSULE REPORT - INTERNATIONAL
10 January
2006
Do Internet companies need to be regulated to
ensure they respect free _expression? asks RSF
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
(RSF/IFEX) - The following is a 6 January 2006 RSF
capsule report:
Do Internet companies need to be
regulated to ensure they respect free _expression? asks
RSF
Reporters Without Borders' proposals
The
recent case of Microsoft closing down a journalist's blog
under pressure from the Chinese authorities once again shows
that some Internet sector companies do not respect freedom
of _expression when operating in repressive countries.
Reporters Without Borders proposes five concrete ways to
make these companies behave ethically. These recommendations
are addressed to the US government and US legislators
because all the companies named in this document are based
in the United States. Nonetheless, they concern all
democratic countries and have therefore been sent to
European Union officials and to the Secretary General of the
OECD as well.
Background
Reporters Without
Borders has repeatedly condemned the ethical lapses
displayed by certain Internet sector companies when
operating in repressive countries. Here are some examples
that have caused us particular concern:
- Since
2002, Yahoo! has agreed to censor the results of the Chinese
version of its search engine in accordance with a blacklist
provide by the Chinese government. Reporters Without Borders
also recently proved that Yahoo! helped the Chinese police
identify and then convict a journalist who was criticising
human rights abuses in China. The e-mail servers of Yahoo!'s
Chinese division are located inside China.
-
Microsoft censors the Chinese version of its MSN Spaces blog
tool. You cannot enter search strings such as "democracy" or
"human rights in China" or "capitalism" as they are
automatically rejected by the system. Microsoft also closed
down a Chinese journalist's blog following pressure from the
government in Beijing. This blog was hosted on servers
located in the United States.
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- All sources of news
and information that are censored in China have been
withdrawn by Google from the Chinese version of its news
search engine, Google News.
- Secure Computing has
sold Tunisia technology that allows it to censor independent
news and information websites such as that of Reporters
Without Borders.
- Fortinet has sold the same kind
of software to Burma.
- Cisco Systems has marketed
equipment specifically designed to make it easier for the
Chinese police to carry out surveillance of electronic
communications. Cisco is also suspected of giving Chinese
engineers training in how to use its products to censor the
Internet.
We believe these practices violate the
right to freedom of _expression as defined in article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was
proclaimed by the United Nations when it was founded and
which is supposed to apply to everyone, including business
corporations. Furthermore, such ethical failings on the part
of American companies damage the image of the Unites States
abroad.
Our previous initiatives
Reporters
Without Borders has written to the chief executives of
several corporations since 2002 proposing an exchange of
ideas on this issue. None of our letters has been answered.
We have also tried to alert the shareholders of these
companies through investment funds. We presented a joint
statement on 7 November 2005 in New York in which 25
investment firms managing some 21 billion dollars in assets
undertook to monitor the activities of Internet companies
operating in repressive countries.
Aside from
Google, all the companies we approached refused to enter
into a dialogue on this subject. We would therefore now like
the American people's elected representatives and the
Department of State to formally take up this issue.
The initiative
Reporters Without Borders is
convinced that a law regulating the activities of Internet
companies should only be drafted as a last resort, and we
therefore recommend a two-step approach. Initially, a group
of congressmen should formally ask Internet corporations to
reach an agreement among themselves on a code of conduct
that includes the recommendations we make at the end of this
document. The companies would be urged to use the help of
organisations specialised in freedom of _expression in
drafting the document. The request would include a deadline
for the companies to submit their draft code of conduct to
the congressmen concerned.
In the event that no
satisfactory code of conduct has been drawn up when the
deadline expires, or that the proposed code has not been
accepted by a sufficient number of representative companies,
the congressmen would set about drafting a law that would
aim to ensure that US companies respect freedom of
_expression when they are operating in repressive countries
and elsewhere.
Reporters Without Borders'
proposals
We have listed our recommendations
according to the type of service or equipment marketed by
Internet companies:
- E-mail services: No US company
would be allowed to host e-mail servers within a repressive
country.* So, if the authorities of a repressive country
want personal information about the user of a US company's
e-mail service, they would have to request it under a
procedure supervised by the US.
- Search engines:
Search engines would not be allowed to incorporate automatic
filters that censor "protected" words. The list of
"protected" keywords such as "democracy" or "human rights"
should be appended to the law or code of conduct.
-
Content hosts (websites, blogs, discussion forums etc.): US
companies would not be allowed to locate their host servers
within repressive countries. If the authorities of a
repressive country desire the closure of a publication
hosted by a US company, they would have to request it under
a procedure supervised by the US judicial authorities. Like
search engines, content hosts would not be allowed to
incorporate automatic filters that censor "protected"
key-words.
- Internet censorship technologies:
Reporters Without Borders proposes two options:
Option a: US companies would no longer be permitted to
sell Internet censorship software to repressive states.
Option b: They would still be able to market this type
of software but it will have to incorporate a list of
"protected" keywords that are rendered technically
impossible to censor.
- Internet surveillance
technology and equipment: US companies would have to obtain
the express permission of the Department of Commerce in
order to sell to a repressive country any technology or
equipment which can be used to intercept electronic
communications or which is specifically designed to assist
the authorities in monitoring Internet users.
-
Training: US companies would have to obtain the express
permission of the Department of Commerce before providing
any training programme in Internet surveillance and
censorship techniques in a repressive country.
* A
list of countries that repress freedom of _expression would
be drawn up on the basis of documents provided by the US
State Department and would be appended to the code of
conduct or law that is adopted. This list would be regularly
updated.
Note: The purpose of these recommendations
is to protect freedom of _expression. They in no way aim to
restrict the necessary cooperation between governments in
their efforts to combat terrorism, pedophilia and
cyber-crime.
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