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Fwd: Yahoo! and Google asked to respect free expression by RSF



I thought folks interested in Tor and circumvention might find this interesting...

SN

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Delivered-To: shava@xxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:32:22 +0100
To: internet@xxxxxxx
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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Shava Nerad
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