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Do
Internet companies need to be regulated to ensure they respect free
expression?
Reporters
sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders
January
06, 2006
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16110
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.
- 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of news and information that are censored in China have been withdrawn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 the Reporters Without Borders
one.
- 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 have been answered. We have also
tried to alert the shareholders of these companies through investment
funds. We presented a joint statement on 7 November 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 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 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 programme of training
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, paedophilia and
cyber-crime.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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