This page presents all relevant good practice case studies that showcase how business have addressed the Freedom of speech dilemma. Case studies have been developed in close collaboration with a range of multi-national companies and relevant government, inter-governmental and civil society stakeholders. We also draw on public domain sources, including the UN Global Compact's own published Communications on Progress through which signatories are required to report on their performance against the Ten Principles.
The case studies explore the specific dilemmas and challenges faced by each organisation, good practice actions they have taken to resolve them and the results of such action. We reference challenges as well as achievements and invite you to submit commentary and suggestions through the Forum.
GOFA: Stopping media companies cooperating with “repressive governments” – US
The Global Online Freedom Act (GOFA) was introduced in the US House of Representatives on 6 May 2009. This Bill (which is in the first step in the legislative process) aims to prevent US companies from “cooperating with repressive governments in transforming the Internet into a tool of censorship and surveillance.” The GOFA would require that Internet companies disclose all material filtered in response to demands by foreign governments to the State Department. Leading Internet companies such as Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have sought modifications to the Bill, arguing that, without the flexibility to negotiate they cannot protect the safety of local employees and that they may be forced to divest from repressive countries, where they believe even a restricted version of their services does more good than harm.
Open Net Initiative: Academic partnership on Internet surveillance – Global
The Open Net Initiative (ONI) is a collaborative partnership of four leading academic institutions (University of Toronto, Harvard University, University of Cambridge and Oxford University). It aims to investigate, expose and analyse Internet filtering and surveillance practices in a credible and non-partisan fashion. It aims to uncover the potential pitfalls and unintended consequences of these practices to inform better public policy and advocacy work in this area.
Open MIC: Instigating shareholder resolutions - US
Open MIC is a non-for-profit organisation which organises shareholders of publicly-held media and information technology companies to bring about responsible corporate management policies. Its organising principle is that a “dynamic, open and critical media sector is good for both the business of media and the health of democratic society.” To date, Open MIC has focused largely on the practices of US Internet Service Providers (ISPs). A particular concern has been the deployment of “deep packet inspection” and content filtering technologies by ISPs. The Open MIC coalition has introduced multiple shareholder resolutions at publicly-held ISPs seeking reports from their boards regarding Internet network management practices and their impact on Internet privacy and freedom of expression.
Twitter: Developing technology to combat censorship – Global
Evan Williams, the chief executive and co-founder of Twitter, the internet social network, announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Twitter is developing technology with the aim of preventing repressive governments from being able to censor its users. He said: “We are partially blocked in China and other places and we were in Iran as well. The most productive way to fight that is not by trying to engage China and other governments whose very being is against what we are about. I am hopeful there are technological ways around these barriers.”
Cisco Systems: Commitment to prohibit unique filtering capabilities – Global
Cisco Systems sets out its position on Internet freedom in its 2009 CSR report. It states that the company does not “customise or develop specialised or unique filtering capabilities in order to enable different regimes to block access to information” or to repress or infringe on rights. The company states that it opposes to efforts by governments “to force suppliers to adopt special protocols or standards that deviate from global norms and enable special censorship or filtering systems.”
YouTube: Guidelines for flagging content as offensive – Global
The right to freedom of expression may be subject to restrictions, including to maintain respect for the rights or reputations of others. As an open-source website, YouTube has established a procedure whereby users can ‘flag’ a video if they believe it violates YouTube’s ‘Community Guidelines.’ The Guidelines prohibit sexually explicit videos, graphic violence and hate speech. Once flagged, a video is vetted by YouTube’s internal reviewers at facilities around the world who decide whether to take it down, leave it up or send it up the YouTube hierarchy for more specialised review.
Trillium: Urging the FCC to adopt strong open internet principles - US
In January 2010, Trillium Asset Management Corporation and Open MIC filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of its efforts to protect the free and open nature of the Internet. The FCC is a US government initiative focussed on the open discussion “about the important issues facing the future of the Internet.” The commentary called for greater transparency in the regulation of Internet Service Providers: “Failure to provide greater transparency regarding privacy practices will weaken consumers’ confidence in ISPs and their willingness to protect consumers’ privacy and freedom of expression. Such failure will also heighten the companies’ perceived risk and penalise their share values.”
Microsoft: Guiding responses to demands to restrict content – Global
Microsoft has adopted an internal policy to guide its responses to government demands to restrict content published on Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces blogging software and service. This policy applies worldwide and is intended to promote three principles: (1) Explicit Standards for Protecting Content Access - Access will be removed only when the company receives a legally binding notice from the government indicating a violation of local laws, or if the content violates the service’s terms of use; (2) Maintaining Global Access - When blog content is blocked due to restrictions based on local laws, the rest of the world will continue to have access to it; (3) Transparent User Notification - When blog content is blocked due to restrictions based on local laws, Microsoft will ensure that users know that access has been limited due to a government restriction.
Investors: Calling on business to respect for freedom of expression - Global
The Joint Investor Statement on Freedom of Expression and the Internet was launched in November 2005 with 20 initial signatories representing over US$22 billion in assets. It asks Internet businesses to support freedom of expression worldwide and investors to commit to vote in favour of shareholder proposals that advance this goal. It calls on Internet businesses “to adopt and make public ethical codes stressing their commitment to freedom of expression and defining their obligations to uphold these freedoms,” as well as to “make information public that will allow investors to assess how each firm is acting to ensure that its products and services are not being used to commit human rights violations.”
Yahoo!: Creating a Human Rights Fund for imprisoned political dissidents
In partnership with the Laogai Research Foundation (LRF), Yahoo! created a Human Rights Fund to provide humanitarian and legal support to political dissidents who have been imprisoned for expressing their views online, as well as assistance for their families. Through the Fund, Yahoo! has also supported the LRF, which also documents and publicises human rights violations in China, including Internet censorship and surveillance.
ITIC et al: Urging Beijing to reconsider implementation of filtering software
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), the Software and Information Industry Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and TechAmerica issued a statement in June 2009 urging the Chinese government to reconsider its request for the mandatory instillation of the ‘Green Dam’ filtering software. The organisations said: “We believe there should be an open and healthy dialogue on how parental control software can be offered in the market in ways that ensure privacy, system reliability, freedom of expression, the free flow of information, security and user choice.” The software was officially used for filtering out pornographic material from Internet searches, but research had found that it was also programmed to filter politically-sensitive words.
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