Google & Industry Best practices

BY: ANAHITA ZAMANIITMGMT 550 – INSTRUCTOR: TONY WOLF

SEP. 2013

Content•Introduction - Global Internet Freedom

•Issues

•Best Practices

•Voluntary Code of Conduct

•Government Intervention

•Stop Censorship of Internet Search

•Summary

•Graphs and Statistics

•References

Introduction - Global Internet Freedom

Internet is a transformative force that can help open closed societies and provide the near-instantaneous flow of information to inform the public, mobilize for change, and ultimately hold institutions accountable. We have warned, however, that there is a real danger of a Virtual Curtain dividing the internet, much as the Iron Curtain did during the Cold War, because some governments fear the potential of the internet, want to control it and the companies that provide the services and products tied to it; and users fear the consequences of using it as a medium for openness and accountability.

Issues•The actions by some governments to restrict the flow of information and to punish individuals who exercise their right to free expression through this medium.

•The ongoing efforts by industry, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), academics, and financial institutions to press for self-regulation to ensure that leading companies who provide internet technologies and services are not complicit in abuses or forced by governments to capitulate to their repressive demands.

•The prospects for government-led change and opportunities to ensure respect for human rights, particularly in regard to companies.

Issues (Cont.)Leading IT companies participation:

◦ Censor their search engines◦ Shutdown Blogs.◦ Turn over user information to the government.  

Best Practices•Voluntary Code of Conduct

•Government Intervention

•Stop Censorship of Internet Search

Voluntary Code of Conduct.

Google and other leading companies including Yahoo!, Microsoft, Vodafone, French Telcom, and Telia Senoria have developed a voluntary code of conduct and process of enforcement to try to curtail censorship and protect user information.

Government InterventionA regulatory approach is a necessary complement to a voluntary initiative.

Google, and Yahoo, help regions like Middle East and lobby the governments for less censorship.

Stop Censorship of Internet Search

Google is not censoring its own information, and is no longer comply with filtering regulations.

The Chinese government makes censorship of Internet search results a condition of Google's operation in the country. As part of Google's decision to stop censoring search results, the company closed Google.cn, its Chinese search engine, and redirected search queries to Hong Kong servers.

Summary Leading IT industry organizations like Google should be leading Internet Freedom effort by providing best practices in corporate responsibility and onboarding other companies to achieve the global goal.

Other companies should support the regulations in principal and in practice.

We should support Online Freedom, because censorship hurts us, it hurts innovation it hurts growth.

Graphs and Statistics

Internet Penetration Rates

Internet Users Distribution

Internet Censorship Ranking

References•Human Rights Watch (2008, May 21).Global Internet Freedom: Corporate Responsibility and the Rule of Law. Retrieved from http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/05/19/global-internet-freedom-corporate-responsibility-and-rule-law

•Claburn, Thomas. Information Week 1261  (Mar 29, 2010): 17. Google Helps Users Cope With Censorship.

•Warf, Barney (2011). Geographies of global Internet censorship.GeoJournal 76.1 , 1-23.