Google and Yahoo raise doubts over planned net filters

By BHRP

Google and Yahoo have joined two Australian organizations calling for a “rethink” of the country’s controversial internet filter plans.

Flickr Creative Commons | Digital Reflections

The groups argue that the subjects covered by RC material are too wide-ranging for a blanket ban.

They also warn that the filter will not “effectively protect children”.

Introducing Evgeny Morozov, Our Newest Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown

By Ebele Okobi-Harris | Director, Yahoo! BHRP

I’m thrilled to introduce Evgeny Morozov, our 2009-2010 Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University.

Evgeny is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy and runs the magazine’s influential and widely-quoted “Net Effect” blog about the Internet’s impact on global politics.  Prior to his Yahoo! Fellowship, he was a fellow at George Soros’s Open Society Institute, where he remains on the board of the Information Program (one of the leading and most experimental funders for technology projects that have an impact on open society and human rights). Before moving to the US, Evgeny was based in Berlin and Prague, where he was Director of New Media at Transitions Online, a media development NGO active in 29 countries of the former Soviet bloc. Evgeny’s work has appeared in The Economist, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, Slate, Le Monde, The San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Review, Foreign Policy, Project Syndicate, Dissent and many other publications. He has appeared on CNN, CBS, SkyNews, CBC, Al Jazeera International, France 24, Reuters TV, NPR, BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service.

Here is what Evgeny is working on, in his own words:

“The rapid spread of new communications technologies around the globe promised a new age of politics, where citizens would be able to educate themselves about important political issues of the day, form ad-hoc groups about the most important such issues, and use new media to strategically challenge the power of their governments. This was a very appealing narrative, because it also matched the rapid spread of freedom and democracy across the world, particularly in the 1990s.

Looking at some of these early predictions – about the end of nationalism or the demise of the nation state or the global triumph of Web-powered freedom – one easily detects the naiveté that underlined much of our thinking on these issues. As it turns out, conventional (and often brutal) politics still matters, even in the age of easy mobilization dominated by blogs and social networking.

In my own research – including my one year at Georgetown on a Yahoo fellowship – I’m focusing on how governments – especially those that are not particularly famous for their respect for democracy and human rights – have been adapting to the digital threat posed by this new era and minimizing the democratizing effects of these new technologies. Comparing the approaches in China, Russia, much of the Middle East, I came to see that the governments – and groups and networks affiliated with/ and supportive of what they do – have made a remarkable use of the very same technologies that have become favorite tools of the activists and NGOs. Similarly, many of the new public spheres that formed in digital spaces have also been receptive to numerous nationalist and extremist ideas that were not very conducive to deliberative democracy. How do we still promote activities of the “virtual civil societies” without empowering its enemies, who are sometimes even more dangerous than the authoritarian governments themselves? Were we too quick to assume that promoting democracy and freedom – as well as engaging in public diplomacy – would necessarily become easier and quicker in this new digital age?

These are some of the questions that I’m asking in my research and various events at Georgetown and that I’ll be discussing in my upcoming book about the Internet and democracy (to be published by PublicAffairs in late 2010).”

We are looking forward to bringing Evgeny to Yahoo!’s campus early next year to talk about his work. Congratulations, Evgeny!

Yahoo! at the UN

By Ebele Okobi-Harris | Director, Yahoo! BHRP

Victor Ricco | CEDHA

In October, Yahoo!’s BHRP had the honor of participating in the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ consultation on business and human rights in Geneva.  The consultation was presented by Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises,  John Ruggie, and chaired by the Ambassadors of Norway and Nigeria. More than 300 representatives from UN member states, human rights organizations, civil society, academia and business attended.

The Special Representative has the monumental task of defining the responsibilities companies should have in protecting human rights around the world. He began by creating a policy framework based on three principles:

1. The State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business;
2. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and
3. The need for greater access by victims to effective remedies.

The Special Representative will complete his mandate by translating the policy framework into specific actions that companies and nations should take to protect human rights, and the consultation was an opportunity for people and organizations to give their ideas and views about what the final product should include.

To learn more about the policy framework, go to:  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/trans_corporations/index.htm

I had the privilege of representing Yahoo! on a panel about the second principle, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. I was asked to discuss the dilemmas companies like Yahoo! face when certain aspects of local laws, or their implementation, may conflict with international human rights norms, and to give recommendations on what the Special Representative should consider when developing specific guidelines for companies.

I talked about the power of technology and how access to the Internet is often even more important in countries that restrict free expression. I talked about the difficult choices companies face and how requiring information and technology companies to refrain from offering products and services in countries that restrict free expression can actually punish the citizens in those countries who rely on technology to communicate and connect with the outside world. I also asked the Special Representative to consider how the framework can show support for solutions like the GNI that draw upon the combined wisdom of companies, non-profits, academics, users and others.

To read the full text of my remarks, see here.

I learned a great deal from my co-panelists, including human rights giants like Jody Kollapen (former Chair of the South Africa Human Rights Commission, who represented Stephen Biko and who helped create the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission), Auret van Heerden (President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association and former exile from the apartheid-era South African government) and Salvador Quishpe, who represented the indigenous Saraguro community of Ecuador. I’m honored to have represented Yahoo!, and the BHRP looks forward to learning more about the progress of the Special Representative’s mandate, and to future conversations with these and other stakeholders.

Iran Stories

By Michael Samway | VP & Deputy General Counsel

UPDATE: ZDNet has retracted its story.

Yahoo! is committed to protecting the free expression and privacy rights of our users, so we are concerned by the misleading and incorrect statements in an article posted on ZDNet.com regarding Yahoo! and Iran.

The allegations in the story are false. Neither Yahoo! nor any Yahoo! representative has met with or communicated with Iranian officials regarding the matters referenced in the article, and Yahoo! has not disclosed user data to the Iranian government. The ZDnet article makes other inaccurate assertions. We don’t have a Yahoo! Iran website, as the article suggests. We don’t have employees in Iran either. And while we have a website targeted at users in Malaysia, we don’t have operations or officials there, also wrongly asserted in the article.

The power of the Internet means that information travels quickly, including claims that are false. We’re disappointed in this case that we weren’t given a chance to comment on the allegations before the story went live. We are, however, pleased that ZDnet’s editor has now said the report on which the article was based is considered unreliable. We intend to continue to demonstrate, through our actions, our deep commitment to protecting our users’ rights to free expression and privacy. Yahoo! was founded on the principle that access to information and to communications tools can improve people’s lives, and Yahoo! is committed to protecting and promoting freedom of expression and privacy around the globe, including in Iran.

To learn more about our human rights efforts, please visit our website, at http://humanrights.yahoo.com.

by Michael Samway, VP & Deputy General Counsel

A little more conversation

By Ebele Okobi-Harris | Director, Yahoo! BHRP

James Emery | Flickr Creative Commons

Hello, and welcome to the Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Program blog! For the past few years, Yahoo! has been focused upon how to address the fact that our business increasingly intersects with human rights issues around the world, specifically user privacy and free expression on the Internet. We know that we have a responsibility, like all companies, to act responsibly in the communities in which we operate, and we have taken action, including funding academic fellowships, creating the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund, engaging with governments, and helping to co-found the Global Network Initiative.

You can read more about our initiatives on our website, at humanrights.yahoo.com.

At Yahoo!, we believe that access to information improves lives and advances human rights around the world. We also know that with almost half a billion users around the word, we have an opportunity to raise awareness about free expression and user privacy.  The issues at the intersection of technology and human rights are complex, and we believe that we can only benefit from transparency and an open exchange of ideas with engaged and informed people around the world.

With this blog, we are hoping to start a conversation. Will you join us?

by Ebele Okobi-Harris |  Director, Business & Human Rights Program

Yahoo’s bold advance into the Middle East

By BHRP

By Douglas MacMillan

Businessweek, August 26, 2009

On the pages of Arabic-language Web site Bentelhalal, men and women from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East and North Africa list personal details and describe the qualities they’re looking for in a mate, such as “polite,” “stylish,” and “God-fearing.” It’s reminiscent of an American dating site, except for one big twist: All of these singles are ready to marry.

Bentelhalal is one popular site within Maktoob, the large Jordanian Internet property Yahoo! (YHOO) said it was acquiring on Aug. 25 for what the Web site TechCrunch reported to be $85 million. It’s also a sign that Yahoo, which trades in tech news and celebrity gossip to assemble its audience at home, has entered a different world.

The purchase gives Yahoo command of one of the most visited online news portals in the Arab world, with business, finance, games, blogging, and other sites that reach an estimated 16.5 million people. Yahoo says it will translate its home page, e-mail, and instant messaging services into Arabic but plans to keep Maktoob’s local flavor mostly intact.

While rivals Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) have waded cautiously into the emerging Middle East, Yahoo will be the first major Internet company from the West to run a full online content business in the region. How the company navigates the cultural and legal norms of the Arab world will be watched closely by competitors back home. So will its approach to Internet censorship.

Maktoob: Supported by Online Ads

The relatively tiny market for online ads in Arab countries has companies stepping carefully into the market. Microsoft partners with an Egyptian ISP for its MSN Arabia site, and Google offers an Arabic-language version of its search engine. But neither has entered the Middle East with as much conviction as Yahoo. “Many of the emerging markets are very similar. You have nascent penetration of online users and ad dollars,” says Keith Nilsson, Yahoo’s senior vice-president for emerging markets. “The Middle East is unique because you have a contiguous language which a very large population speaks—one of the reasons we were interested in this acquisition.”

The market for online advertising and transactions in the Middle East may be tiny by Silicon Valley standards, but experts say the potential is huge. Maktoob is largely supported by online ads, which are expected to make up a $142 million market among Arabic-speaking countries by 2011, according to Dubai-based Madar Research.

“The Arab citizen is hungry for local content in their local language, and this is something that has enormous potential” for Internet companies, says Soumitra Dutta, a professor of business and technology at Paris business school INSEAD. Dutta says the Middle East has improved its technology competitiveness faster than any region in the world over the past five years, according to a study he conducted with researchers from the World Economic Forum. Technology companies that include Cisco Systems (CSCO) and SAP (SAP) are seeing fast growth in the region, and Cisco has been investing aggressively there.

Yahoo sees its success in the region dependent on catering to local markets. “We have to have a team in place that understands the nuances between each country,” says Nilsson. While Maktoob currently has a sales force in five countries, Nilsson says the plan is to develop local sales forces in all countries the site reaches.

“Political Filtering” in the Region

As it expands to the Middle East, Yahoo is taking pains to avoid the kinds of government complications it has encountered in Asia. In 2004 the company was criticized for providing information to the Chinese government that critics say led to a 10-year prison sentence for journalist Shi Tao. Since then, Yahoo has helped form the Global Network Initiative, a symposium of Web companies and advocacy groups that share advice about dealing with foreign governmental requests. So far, the efforts appear to be paying off in Vietnam, where the company is expanding despite government restrictions on blogging and other online activities.

The Arab world will be another test. A March report from Paris-based Reporters Without Borders listed a number of regional states—including Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria—on its annual list of countries it considers “enemies” of the Internet for jailing bloggers and otherwise preventing free speech on the Web. “Political filtering is strong in the region,” says Rob Faris, research director for Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Yahoo says it plans to abide by local laws while operating Maktoob but will also protect users’ freedom of speech. Yahoo Deputy General Counsel Michael Samway says when the company was performing its due diligence, it studied “the potential intersection points with human-rights challenges.”

One cautionary measure was already in place: Maktoob keeps its users’ private information stored on servers “outside the region,” which would prevent them from being subject to local governments’ demands.