Investment funds and analysts to monitor what Internet firms do in repressive countries
Via Reporters sans Frontières.
At the initiative of Reporters Without Borders, 25 US, Canadian, Australian and European investment funds managing around 21 billion dollars in assets said they are committed to online freedom of expression in a joint statement [.pdf] issued a news conference today in New York. As part of their commitment, they are undertaking to monitor the activities of Internet sector companies in repressive countries. The statement is above all targeted at companies such as Yahoo!, Cisco Systems and Microsoft that help the Chinese authorities censor the Internet or operate online surveillance systems.
Reporters Without Borders has on several occasions condemned the ethical lapses displayed by certain Internet sector companies when operating in repressive countries. The organisation wrote to Yahoo ! in July 2002 asking it to explain why it helps Chinese government agencies responsible for censorship. The California-based corporation has for years agreed to censor the Chinese version of its search engine so that, for example, searches for such word strings as “Falungong” or “human rights in China” will display content from official sources only. Reporters Without Borders also tried to get in contact with Cisco Systems, Yahoo! and Microsoft in December 2003 in the hope of being able to talk about the consequences of their activities for freedom of expression. Our letters received no reply.
posted by Fergie @ 11/07/2005 11:42:00 AM
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