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Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:32:22 +0100
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From: "rsf.Internet" <internet@xxxxxxx>
Subject: UNITED STATES : Yahoo! and Google asked
to respect free expression in
shareholder resolution filed by New York City Pension Fund / ETATS-UNIS : le
fonds de pension de la ville de New York, actionnaire de yahoo! et
google, demande
à ces entreprises de respecter la liberté
d'expression
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English/ français
14.12.06
Reporters Without Borders / Internet Freedom desk
UNITED STATES
YAHOO! AND GOOGLE ASKED TO RESPECT FREE
EXPRESSION IN SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTION FILED BY NEW YORK CITY PENSION FUND
Reporters Without Borders voiced support today
for a shareholder resolution about freedom of
expression that has been filed with Yahoo! and
Google by the New York City Pension Fund, which
owns around 400 million dollars of stock in the two companies.
"More and more initiatives are being taken by
individual shareholders and investment funds to
force Internet companies to respect certain
ethical principles when operating in repressive
countries," the press freedom organisation said.
"The New York City Pension Fund's involvement is
excellent news because it is an investor with
both financial and symbolic weight."
Reporters Without Borders added: "We call on all
shareholders in Yahoo! and Google, both
individuals and management companies, to vote in
support of this resolution at these companies'
next annual shareholders meetings."
The shareholder resolution (full text below) was
announced today by New York city comptroller
William C. Thompson. The city's pension fund,
which mainly handles the retirement funds of
city employees, owns 687,244 shares in Google
worth 276 million dollars and 4,372,277 shares
in Yahoo! worth 110 million dollars.
The resolution sets out a series of principles
to be respected by Internet companies,
especially when operating in the "13 countries
that restrict and monitor information." The
resolution names the same countries that appear
in the list of 13 "Internet enemies" which
Reporters Without Borders published in November:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19603.
The resolution affirms that: "Technology
companies in the United States that operate in
countries controlled by authoritarian
governments have an obligation to comply with
the principles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights."
Reporters Without Borders has for several years
been urging investment funds to take action in
support of online free expression. At the
organisation's initiative, 30 investors signed a
statement in 2005 about the moral
responsibilities of Internet sector companies (see:
http://www.rsf.org/fonds-investissement-en.php3).
Similar initiatives:
A resolution calling on Cisco Systems to produce
a report on his activities in repressive
countries was backed by 29 per cent of
shareholders in a vote at the company's annual
shareholders meeting on 15 November:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19782.
Individual shareholders have filed a shareholder
resolution on freedom of expression with Yahoo!
Like the one filed by the New York City Pension
Fund, it will be put up for vote at the
company's next annual shareholders meeting.
-----------------------
ETATS-UNIS
LE FONDS DE PENSION DE LA VILLE DE NEW YORK,
ACTIONNAIRE DE YAHOO! ET GOOGLE, DEMANDE A CES
ENTREPRISES DE RESPECTER LA LIBERTE D'EXPRESSION
Reporters sans frontières soutient l'initiative
du fonds d'investissement de la ville de New
York (New York City Pension funds) qui vient de
soumettre aux entreprises Yahoo ! et Google une
résolution d'actionnaires portant sur la liberté
d'expression. Cet investisseur institutionnel
détient des actions de ces deux entreprises pour
un montant total de près de 400 millions de dollars.
"Les initiatives d'actionnaires individuels et
de fonds d'investissements se multiplient pour
contraindre les entreprises du secteur
d'Internet à respecter certains principes
éthiques lorsqu'elles opèrent dans des pays
répressifs. L'engagement du fonds de pension de
la ville de New York est une excellente nouvelle
car c'est un investisseur qui pèse à la fois
financièrement et symboliquement. Nous appelons
tous les actionnaires de Yahoo ! et de Google,
aussi bien les particuliers que les sociétés de
gestion, à voter en faveur de cette résolution
lors des prochaines assemblées générales de ces
entreprises", a déclaré Reporters sans frontières.
La résolution d'actionnaires (texte complet
ci-dessous) a été annoncée par l'administrateur
de la ville de New York (New York city
Comptroller), William C. Thompson, le 14
décembre 2006. Ce fonds de pension, qui gère
notamment les retraites des fonctionnaires de la
ville, est propriétaire de 687 244 actions de
Google (pour un montant de 276 203 364 dollars)
et de 4 372 277 actions de Yahoo! (pour un montant de 110 531 277 dollars).
La résolution définit une série de principes qui
devraient être respectés par les entreprises du
secteur d'Internet, en particulier quand elles
exercent leur activité dans les "treize pays qui
censurent et surveillent Internet" (la
résolution mentionne les mêmes pays qui figurent
sur la liste des treize "ennemis d'Internet"
publiée en novembre par Reporters sans
frontières :
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19601).
Elle rappelle par ailleurs que les entreprises
américaines du secteur des nouvelles
technologies "doivent impérativement respecter
les principes définis par la Déclaration
universelle des droits de l'homme" et fait
référence à l'article 19 de ce texte, qui porte sur la liberté d'expression.
Depuis plusieurs années, Reporters sans
frontières demande aux fonds d'investissements
de se mobiliser en faveur de la liberté
d'expression sur Internet. A l'initiative de
Reporters sans frontières, 30 investisseurs ont
signé, en 2005, une déclaration insistant sur
les responsabilités morales des entreprises du
secteur de l'Internet (voir : http://www.rsf.org/fonds-investissement.php3).
Initiatives similaires :
Une résolution qui demandait à Cisco Systems de
produire un rapport sur son activité dans des
pays répressifs a recueilli 29% des voix des
actionnaires lors de l'assemblée générale de
l'entreprise, le 15 novembre 2006 :
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19779
Des actionnaires individuels ont déposé une
résolution d'actionnaires portant sur la liberté
d'expression auprès de Yahoo !. Ce texte sera,
comme celui du fonds de pension de la ville de
New York, porté au vote lors de la prochaine
assemblée générale de cette entreprise.
------------
FULL RESOLUTION
INTERNET CENSORSHIP
Whereas, freedom of speech and freedom of the
press are fundamental human rights, and free use
of the Internet is protected in Article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
guarantees freedom to "receive and impart
information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers", and
Whereas, the rapid provision of full and
uncensored information through the Internet has
become a major industry in the United States, and one of its major exports, and
Whereas, political censorship of the Internet
degrades the quality of that service and
ultimately threatens the integrity and viability
of the industry itself, both in the United States and abroad, and
Whereas, some authoritarian foreign governments
such as the Governments of Belarus, Burma,
China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, and Vietnam block, restrict, and
monitor the information their citizens attempt to obtain, and
Whereas, technology companies in the United
States such as Google, that operate in countries
controlled by authoritarian governments have an
obligation to comply with the principles of the
United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and
Whereas, technology companies in the United
States have failed to develop adequate standards
by which they can conduct business with
authoritarian governments while protecting human
rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression,
Therefore, be it resolved, that shareholders
request that management institute policies to
help protect freedom of access to the Internet
which would include the following minimum standards:
1) Data that can identify individual users
should not be hosted in Internet restricting
countries, where political speech can be treated
as a crime by the legal system.
2) The company will not engage in pro-active censorship.
3) The company will use all legal means to
resist demands for censorship. The company will
only comply with such demands if required to do
so through legally binding procedures.
4) Users will be clearly informed when the
company has acceded to legally binding
government requests to filter or otherwise
censor content that the user is trying to access.
5) Users should be informed about the company's
data retention practices, and the ways in which
their data is shared with third parties.
6) The company will document all cases where
legally-binding censorship requests have been
complied with, and that information will be publicly available.
--
Bureau Internet et libertés / Internet Freedom desk
___________________________________________
Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders
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