Ebay, Yahoo, Google, Nokia and Skype launch Asia Internet Coalition

By Nicole

By Emily Tan | Campaign Asia | June 14, 2011 |

Flickr Creative Commons | Nicola Corboy

Five major technology players – Ebay, Yahoo, Google, Nokia and Skype – have joined forces to launch a new industry association. The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) aims to promote understanding and resolution of internet policy issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

The coalition, incorporated in October last year but officially launched on 14 June, is led by Dr John Ure, director of the telecommunications research project at Hong Kong University. It seeks engagement with policy makers, the industry and internet users to promote its aims of an open internet.

According to Ure, some of the AIC’s main objectives are to facilitate the development of the digital economy in Asia-Pacific and to provide a forum for information sharing between industry and governments.

“Hong Kong’s internet economy is worth US$12 billion (HK$96 billion) and underscores the importance of a healthy growth in information communications technology,” said Hong Kong Government chief information officer Stephen Mak in his keynote speech at the launch.

The AIC aims to facilitate this growth via regular consultation with the government and industry and also aims to address major policy issues that arise from such rapid growth. Since its incorporation in October last year, the AIC has already prepared position papers and proposals on topics such as internet privacy and copyright laws for Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines.

According to the association’s chairman, Valerie Tan who is also director of government and regulatory affairs, Asia-Pacific, the organisation’s beginnings were largely informal. “It started over drinks about a year ago. It felt natural to form a coalition to represent our beliefs collectively and provide a single voice representing the industry for governments and policy makers to communicate with.”

Membership to the AIC is open to any company with an internet-related business in at least two locations in the Asia-Pacific region and which agrees with the AIC’s constitution.

Thoughts on Flickr and human rights

By Ebele Okobi-Harris | Director, Yahoo! BHRP

Flickr Creative Commons | YasminMoll

As director of the Business & Human Rights Program at Yahoo!, I spend a great deal of time thinking and learning about how people use social media to further human rights aims, and also all of the ways that companies can try to ensure that their platforms and processes respect that expression.

Lately, with all that we are learning about the role of social media in uprisings around the world, companies are facing even more difficult questions. Our recent experience with Flickr is an excellent case study.

A well-known Egyptian activist, Mr. El Hamalawy, used his Flickr account to post photographs of people identified as members of Egypt’s security force. In the caption to the set of images, the activist explicitly stated that the photographs were not his, and that the people in the images should be exposed, shamed, and made to answer for their crimes. The Flickr community manager received more than one report from the Flickr community through the report abuse function, took down the photographs and sent Mr. El Hamalawy a notice that the images were taken down because they violated Flickr community rules.

Flickr is and has always been quite clear about users only being allowed to post their own photographs:

From Flickr’s Community Guidelines:

Don’t upload anything that isn’t yours.

This includes other people’s photos, video, and/or stuff you’ve copied or collected from around the Internet. Accounts that consist primarily of such collections may be deleted at any time.

This rule applies regardless of content, or of the purpose of the post. The reasoning for this is not only about copyright—and in this case, it’s not a copyright issue.  It’s an issue of community:  Flickr is meant to be a place where photographers, amateur and professional, can share their own work. Flickr, as a community, does not want to be a photo-hosting site, and anyone signing up for Flickr agrees to those rules, which apply whether one is a proud grandmother or a human rights activist.

This is a perfect example of the difficulty that human rights activists and companies have when activists use tools and products that were not initially created for human rights aims; activists are still subject to the community rules. In this case, following the rules would not endanger the user, whether or not he or she is a human rights activist. The rule simply requires human rights activists to use Flickr to post photographs that they have taken–they can use photo-hosting sites or create their own website to post images that are explicitly not their own work.

I have heard from some activists who believe that Flickr applies the rule unevenly; they have pointed out other photographs, including others from Mr. El Hamalawy’s account, that also appear to be photographs that were not taken by Mr. El Hamalawy. Here’s the thing: with millions and millions of photographs and Flickr accounts, Flickr does not have the ability to proactively moderate for photographs that were not taken by Flickr users. Flickr reactively responds to reports from Flickr community members.

Others have asked why Flickr would not make an exception to the rule for activists. It’s a great question, and one that I think about a great deal.  It raises a number of questions for me, and I’d like to pose them to you:

Who is an activist?  Who gets to decide? Are activists, for example, only people who hold views and advocate for the kinds of issues with which I agree? Should the designation be limited to registered human rights organizations? What about organizations in countries where registration as a human rights organization is illegal or dangerous? Would identified activists then be exempt from all of the rules? Or would they get to select which rules apply? Or should the company? What kind of mechanisms could companies set up to make these kinds of decisions?

What about the stated purpose of a community or semi-public space? Flickr was created specifically to allow photographers to share their work. Many Flickr users believe that the community of passionate and invested people make Flickr unique. They want to preserve Flickr’s character and to have a space where members, regardless of purpose, respect the rules, and the unity of purpose.  Many Flickr members use Flickr to highlight human rights issues while taking care to follow community guidelines. If a space is created to serve a particular community, is it fair to the community for one group to be allowed to break those rules? Does a company have the responsibility to change the purpose of a product or platform because a segment of users demand it, regardless of whether that demand is made by a majority or a minority of members? These questions are fundamental to defining exactly what Flickr is – and what it can or should be in the future.

This afternoon, I was on a panel at SXSW, moderated by Danny O’Brien of the Committee to Protect Journalists.  A number of participants expressed outrage about Flickr’s decision. One vowed to never use Yahoo!’s services again, and said that he believed that any Yahoo! product should not be used by human rights activists. I disagree, but I think it’s a point of view that, as a company, we have to be willing to hear. I am a passionate supporter of free expression as a fundamental human right, and I believe strongly in the idea that technology and social media provide incredible opportunities to create social change. I also know that millions of people use Yahoo! products, including Flickr, to create their version of the change they wish to see in the world.  That’s a tremendous privilege, and a huge responsibility.

I look forward to hearing what you think.

Iconic in Egypt

By Kee

Witnessing the literal influence of Internet icons in Egypt in analog form.

photo credit: @whoisubik and @tomgara

via @whoisubik in Dubai and @tomgara who received this great photo from a friend in Egypt.

What are you seeing on the ground?

Australia PM backs controversial Web filter

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Hai Linh Truong

AFP | October 12, 2010

SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Tuesday renewed her backing for a controversial Internet filter, saying it was driven by a “moral question”.

The proposed filter will block access to material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse, and will be administered by Internet Service Provider companies.

However, web giants like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have slammed the initiative as setting a precedent for censorship, while cyber-activists have hit government websites with a targeted hacking campaign.

“My fundamental outlook is this: it is unlawful for me as an adult to go to a cinema and watch certain sorts of content, it’s unlawful and we believe it to be wrong,” Gillard said in a press club address.

“If we accept that then it seems to me that the moral question is not changed by the medium that the images come through.”

The plan, which has also drawn concern from the US State Department, was put on hold pending a content review in July as national elections loomed.

Angry user groups have launched an online campaign accusing the government of censorship, likening the proposed system to firewalls operating in China and Iran.

Concerns have also been raised about the filter’s impact on Internet speeds and the methods through which restricted content would be determined.

Gillard said how to set up the filter “is more complicated, but the underpinning moral question is, I think, exactly the same”.

A review of what material should be excluded by the filter is expected to take at least 12 months.

Google and Yahoo Win Appeal in Argentine Case

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Diegosaurius Rex

By Vinod Sreeharsha | New York Times | August 19, 2010

BUENOS AIRES — In a rare victory for Google and Yahoo Argentina, an appeals court has cleared the companies of defamation for including sex-related Web sites in their search results for an Argentine entertainer.

The appeals court overturned a lower-court ruling that had found the companies liable for defaming the entertainer, Virginia Da Cunha.

The lower-court decision last year had also ordered the companies to pay damages and remove all sites containing sexual, erotic and pornographic content that contained the name or image of Ms. Da Cunha from its results.

The 2-to-1 appeals court ruling, issued last week, said the firms could be held liable for defamation only if they were made aware of clearly illegal content and were negligent in removing it.

The Da Cunha case was the furthest along in the courts of at least 130 similar cases, dating back to 2006. Each one demands content removal. Plaintiffs have included a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, Yesica Toscanini, and the soccer legend Diego Maradona, but are mostly entertainers and models.

Latin America is growing in importance to United States technology companies, particularly those dealing with user-generated content. Despite the victory, Google and Yahoo Argentina’s legal battles are not over. Argentine judges are not required to abide by the latest decision and one of Ms. Da Cunha’s lawyers, Gustavo Tanus, said he intended to appeal to the Argentine Supreme Court.

Most injunctions have been upheld on appeal and take effect until liability is decided. But more than four years later, just two cases have been decided, in what Argentine lawyer Pablo Crescimbeni calls an “abuse of the system.” The Maradona case was reversed.

Google has maintained that it is unable to comply with broad injunctions. Yahoo has taken a different approach, saying the only way to follow the order is to block all sites referencing each plaintiff. So a Yahoo Argentina user searching for Yesica Toscanini gets a nearly blank page citing the judicial order.

The issue of liability over third-party Internet content has long been debated in the United States and Europe. Congress has largely shielded content carriers in the United States over what third-party sites put up. Internet filtering takes place in at least 40 countries, according to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School.

Yet the Argentine cases are unusual, Internet legal experts say. “This is a unique situation in Argentina. I know of no other examples in which the search of an individual is completely blocked,” said Rob Faris of the center. He said China was the only other country requiring search engines to decide what was acceptable.

Ms. Da Cunha’s lawyers, Martin Leguizamon and Mr. Tanus, contend the two companies, by allowing third-party sex sites to mention their client’s name, are violating her privacy and producing “moral harm,” which they say is prohibited by Argentina’s constitution. They also argue that the search engines are violating the country’s copyright laws by allowing sites to display their client’s images without consent.

In a recent interview, Mr. Tanus said, “We are not these crazy Argentines who are against technology.”

Maria Baudino, Google’s Latin America counsel, said that most of the judicial orders against the company were “overly broad and would censor all content regarding an individual.” She argued that Google was a neutral platform and should not be held responsible for third-party content.

Bill Carvalho, Yahoo’s general counsel for Latin America, said that “it is not illegal in Argentina to have a person’s name next to a sexually related Web site or have any association with the Web site. That would be requiring search engines to decide what is defamatory.”

China Renews Google’s License

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Craig Maccubbin

By David Barboza | The New York Times | July 9, 2010

SHANGHAI — The Internet giant Google said Friday that the Beijing government had renewed its license to operate a Web site in mainland China, ending months of tension after the company stopped censoring search results here and moved some operations out of the country.

Google made the announcement early Friday morning in California in a blog posting by its chief legal officer, David Drummond.

“We are very pleased that the government has renewed our I.C.P. license,” Mr. Drummond wrote referring to an Internet content provider license. “And we look forward to continuing to provide Web search and local products to our users in China.”

Google’s chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, said Friday that the renewal “was the outcome we were hoping for.”

Mr. Schmidt, who told reporters on Thursday that the company expected to obtain the renewal, said that he did not know China’s decision would come so soon and was informed of the decision early Friday. He had expected the decision to come down within 24 to 48 hours.

“We’ll keep doing what we’re doing, and they’ll keep doing what they’re doing,” he said Friday at the Allen & Company media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

If the license had not been renewed, Google would have effectively been forced to shut down its Web site, google.cn, in China. With the renewal, however, Google can continue offering limited services in China and direct users to the company’s uncensored Hong Kong-based Chinese language search engine, google.com.hk. Hong Kong, a former British colony that is now a special administrative region of China, is governed separately from the mainland. Under the current setup in mainland China, users can conduct a Google search and see the results, but often they cannot open the links.

The license renewal is a sign that Google, while uncomfortable with operating in China and censoring its search results on Beijing’s behalf, is determined to keep a foot in China, which now has more Internet users than the United States.

Google announced in January that it had suffered China-based cyberattacks on its databases and the e-mail accounts of some users. The company said it would also stop censoring search results, which it had agreed to do when it first began to operate in China several years ago. The Chinese government insists that its citizens’ access to the Internet be stripped of offensive and some politically sensitive material.

In March, Google closed its Internet search service in China and began directing users to the uncensored Hong Kong site.

Many analysts were stunned by the moves and questioned whether Google was acting prudently in risking its spot in the world’s largest Internet market.

Just a few weeks ago, however, Google signaled a softer approach to Beijing by saying that it had stopped automatically sending users in mainland China to its Hong Kong site. The company said it had created a Web page that offered users in mainland China a choice, rather than automatically directing them to its Hong Kong site.

The move, though seemingly insignificant, seemed to comply better with Beijing’s strict regulations.

“This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page,” Mr. Drummond wrote at the time.

Renewal is required annually for Google’s license, which officially expires in 2012.

“This is a reasonable move by the government,” Jake Li, an Internet analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shenzhen, told Bloomberg News. “Google has brought itself into compliance with regulations, so there’s no good reason to deny them the license.”

Even before the censorship issue came to the fore, Google was struggling in China to attain the same market dominance it has achieved in many other countries.

The hottest Internet companies in China are those like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba — fast-growing local companies that are making huge profits.

Google is not the only American giant that has had trouble in China. Yahoo and eBay have failed to gain significant traction here. And Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked by the government.

Pakistan, Turkey Target Google, Other Sites

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | The Wandering Angel

By Tom Wright, Marc Champion And Amir Efrati | The Wall Street Journal | June 26, 2010 

A move by Pakistan to begin monitoring for anti-Islamic content on major websites—including those run by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.—is the latest sign that censorship looms as a threat to Internet companies in a number of countries.

The Pakistan announcement on Friday came a day after a communications minister in Turkey, which has blocked thousands of sites including Google’s YouTube, said the video site was “waging a battle against the Turkish Republic” and suggested that the situation could change if Google were to register and pay taxes.

Authorities in Pakistan on Friday said they would start monitoring major Internet search engines, including Google and Microsoft Corp.’s Bing.com, as well as the e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. The move follows an action last month against social-networking site Facebook Inc., which Pakistan blocked for several weeks after it hosted a page in which users could post pictures of the Prophet Muhammad. The portrayal of Muhammad is forbidden by Islam, and the ban was lifted when the site removed the page.

A YouTube spokeswoman said it was aware of the actions announced in Pakistan and said it will work to keep its services accessible there. “Google and YouTube are platforms for free expression, and we try to allow as much content as possible on our services and still ensure that we enforce our content policies,” she said.

She added that the company remains “disappointed” about the continuing ban on YouTube in Turkey “against a safe and lawful international service enjoyed by millions of people around the world.”

Regarding Pakistan’s decision, a Microsoft spokeswoman said, “Government decisions to restrict online content should respect the rights of individual users and be adopted through open, transparent and publicly accountable processes.” A spokeswoman for Yahoo said the company “was founded on the principle that access to information can improve people’s lives, and we are disappointed to learn about the monitoring and possible blocking of our sites in Pakistan.” Amazon declined to comment.

Google and other Internet companies have helped some Asian countries, such as India and China, enforce certain standards online by removing material that governments find objectionable or violate local laws. YouTube blocks access to videos in Thailand that might be seen to insult the king—which is against the law in that country—and Nazi imagery that is illegal in some parts of Europe.

Earlier this year Google stopped self-censoring its Internet search results in China after complaining it had been hit with a cyber attack originating from that country. China’s own Internet filters now censor Google’s searches.

A number of countries in the Islamic world, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, have banned Internet content in the past for being sacrilegious. But those countries have authoritarian governments that closely monitor the Internet and the media. In Pakistan, where Islamists have vied with secular-minded politicians since the country’s creation in 1947, the implementation of such bans is fraught with difficulties.

On Friday it remained unclear how the state-run Pakistan Telecommunication Authority would be able to monitor millions of links on the Internet to ensure blasphemous material wasn’t appearing on sites like Google and Yahoo.

In Turkey, Google has been the most prominent victim of a 2007 law that has resulted in the closure of thousands of websites, putting the government under pressure in recent weeks as newspapers and opposition parties have begun to cry foul over the restrictions being placed on ordinary web users.

In May 2008, a Turkish court shut down access to Google’s YouTube due to material posted on the site that was found to be insulting to the nation’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Related

U.S. Presses Syria on Web Freedoms

Earlier this year Turkey’s communications ministry extended the ban to other Google sites, a move that appeared to be triggered by a separate tax battle with the U.S. giant. As a result, Turks suddenly lost direct access to GoogleMaps and other sites, as well as to YouTube. However, many ordinary users have been able to circumvent the closures.

The opposition People’s Republican Party, usually a fierce defender of Ataturk’s honor, on Thursday attacked the government in parliament for creating what one parliament member called a “culture of censorship” in the country, including Internet censorship.

Some of Turkey’s top leaders have sought to distance themselves from the Internet closures. President Abdullah Gul earlier this month sent out a public message through his account on micro-blogging site Twitter.com, saying he “cannot approve of Turkey being in the category of countries that bans YouTube [and] prevents access to Google.”
Write to Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com, Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com and Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com

Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Amnesty International Campaign

By Ebele Okobi-Harris | Director, Yahoo! BHRP

Yahoo! has become aware of a campaign launched by Amnesty International, calling on Yahoo! for the release of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning. We are deeply concerned about their continued imprisonment and have and will continue to use those diplomatic forums available to us to advocate for the release of dissidents imprisoned for sharing their views on-line.

At Yahoo!, we strongly believe that the complex global issues of privacy and free expression are best addressed with a collective approach, which is why we are co-founding members of the Global Network Initiative (GNI). As such, we welcome engagement and constructive solutions from all of our stakeholders, including NGOs such as Amnesty.

Transparency is also important, so we would like to make sure that our users are aware of our efforts and have the opportunity to communicate with us directly. We are reaching out to Amnesty directly (as we have done in the past) and are sending letters to those users who took the time to write us and share their concerns. In the interest of transparency, we are also sharing our response to Amnesty with you. Please see below for our letter, with details of the steps that we have taken. As always, please feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments, or via e-mail. We look forward to the dialogue, and to continuing to work with all of our stakeholders to protect and promote privacy and free expression in the ICT sector.

***
Dr. Morton Winston
Address Redacted

Dear Dr. Winston;

Thank you for your interest in learning more about Yahoo!’s commitment to human rights around the world.

Yahoo! was founded on the principle that promoting access to information can improve people’s lives and enhance their relationship with the world around them. The continued imprisonment of Shi Tao is of great concern, particularly given our deep commitment to human rights and desire to be a leader among technology companies in this area.

Yahoo! continues to actively push for the release of Shi Tao, Wang Xioaning and other Chinese dissidents. We have asked the U.S. government to use its leverage to create a global environment where Internet freedom is a priority and where people are no longer imprisoned for expressing their views online. Our former CEO Jerry Yang has met personally with senior State Department officials, and in 2008 wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging the State Department to redouble its efforts to secure the release of imprisoned Chinese dissidents. Secretary Rice subsequently raised this issue with senior Chinese officials, and since then we have seen Members of Congress echo this call for U.S. diplomatic leadership. We also wrote a letter in December of 2009 to U.S. Secretary of State Clinton and spoke with Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner in May of 2010, urging the State Department to continue to advocate for the release of Shi Tao, Wang Xioaning and other Chinese dissidents. We hope these continuing efforts will both intensify and bear fruit.

Yahoo! has not owned or had operational control over Yahoo! China since 2005. However, through our minority stake as well as our membership on the board of Alibaba (which owns and operates Yahoo! China) we have been able to successfully encourage some concrete changes so that Chinese citizens can have a greater understanding of the risks and benefits of going online in China. For example, Yahoo! China search pages contain a notice announcing that certain search results may be limited as a result of Chinese law and the Yahoo! China Mail registration page notes to users that the service is subject to Chinese law.

Yahoo! is committed to protecting human rights and freedom of expression around the world, including in China. As a result, we have partnered with noted dissident and human rights activist Harry Wu and the Laogai Research Foundation to establish the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund. This fund provides humanitarian and legal support to political dissidents who have been imprisoned for expressing their views online, as well as assistance for their families. We also provide financial, humanitarian and legal support to the families of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning.

As you are aware, in order to incorporate lessons learned into future business practices, we created Yahoo!’s Business & Human Rights Program in 2008 (http://ycorpblog.com/2008/05/07/business-and-human-rights/). This first of its kind initiative represents a fundamental corporate commitment to human rights. Among other concrete actions, the BHRP conducts a formal assessment of the potential human rights impact of business decisions. Yahoo! then designs and implements mitigation strategies that limit potential risks to free expression and privacy. To further raise awareness about these critical issues and to contribute to the development of concrete solutions, Yahoo! has established international fellowships at Stanford University and Georgetown University to advance the work of journalists and scholars exploring the complex issues at the intersection of technology, free expression, privacy and global values. In 2009, we also launched the Business & Human Rights Summit, an annual stakeholder engagement and shared learning event. You can learn more about Yahoo!’s individual and collective efforts at Yahoo! at http://humanrights.yahoo.com.

At Yahoo!, we believe that the cause of human rights is more effectively advanced through collective action. As a result, Yahoo! is a founding member of the Global Network Initiative, a multi-stakeholder group of companies, civil society organizations (including human rights and press freedom groups), investors and academics committed to protecting and advancing freedom of expression and privacy online. As you know, given Amnesty’s earlier role in the GNI, GNI formally launched in November of 2008. Since then, Yahoo!, along with fellow participating companies, has agreed to incorporate GNI’s Implementation Guidelines and Governance, Accountability and Learning Framework into our business operations. The Implementation Guidelines and Accountability Framework hold us accountable to our commitments through a number of concrete mechanisms, including independent third-party assessments. You can learn more about the GNI, including details about governance and accountability mechanisms, at http://globalnetworkinitiative.org.

At Yahoo! we will continue to explore how to do more to protect freedom of expression in the markets where we operate. As you know, an important component of the GNI process and of Yahoo!’s approach to these issues is continuous engagement with stakeholders, including NGOs like Amnesty International. We encourage Amnesty to join us in the GNI as we create concrete solutions to the privacy and free expression challenges in the ICT sector; we would welcome the opportunity to have a constructive dialogue.

I appreciate your interest in this important issue, and invite you to contact me directly with your recommendations, and to learn more about Yahoo!’s actions and GNI’s progress.

Respectfully,
Ebele Okobi-Harris
Director, Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Program

Moving On

By Ebele Okobi-Harris | Director, Yahoo! BHRP

Today, Yahoo!’s Business & Human Rights Program is taking a break from regularly scheduled programming to say farewell to Michael Samway, Yahoo!’s vice president & deputy general counsel, head of Yahoo!’s international legal team and founder of the Business & Human Rights Program. Michael’s dedication, commitment to human rights, and tenacity created and launched the first of its kind Business & Human Rights Program here at Yahoo!. After over a decade of leading with integrity and passion at Yahoo!, Michael is leaving Yahoo!  to set sail.  And that’s not just a metaphor—Michael and his family are actually going to sea – living aboard their boat, teaching their kids and remaining active in the social and human rights causes to which they have dedicated much of their time.

We are thrilled for Michael and his wonderful family, and are so very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him and learn from him.  We must admit, however, to being very sad to see him go. Michael has been a mentor, a friend, an inspiration, a voice of reason and a cat-herder par excellence. He also has, it must be acknowledged, truly spectacular hair.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to work with him will miss Michael very much, and below are some thoughts and stories from a few people, both inside and outside Yahoo!, who wish Michael and his family all the very best in their new adventure.

BB King, I’m Moving On

Harry Wu | Founder and Executive Director, Laogai Research Foundation

Dear Captain Ahab:

I wish you will be great at your new job. When you catch the whale please inform me right away. It is very important to celebrate. But, be careful, safety is number one.

Bob Boorstin | Director, Public Policy, Google Inc.

Good bye to Michael, we’ll miss you so much

Especially your calm and deft lawyerly touch

Again and again you’ve earned your laurels

And proved you’re no pygmy without morals

When the fate of our global initiative lay on a roll of the dice

You swooped in and took command like Crockett from Miami Vice

When push came to shove, you stood up for what was right

And never let the goal out of your keen sight

And now your wisdom is clear through all the commotion

As you take your family out into the ocean

Far away from the rigors of business and the hassles it begot

No new cases for you, just loved ones and that big ol’ yacht

Sail well, our friend, may your direction be true

And remember — big hint — land is brown and sea is blue

Have fun, enjoy the breeze and lay back in the sun

We’ll read your blog, see you soon and envy all your fun

Nicole Kempton | Washington Director, Laogai Research Foundation

Michael Samway has literally transformed the fortunes of our organization, and made the work we do possible.  The Laogai Museum would not exist without him, but more importantly, the Yahoo Human Rights Fund would not have been able to help so many individuals in China without his dedication and hard work.  Although we’re jealous of what promises to be the adventure of his life, he will be greatly missed!

Dunstan Hope | Managing Director, ICT Practice, Advisory Services, Business for Social Responsibility

Michael has been an incredible inspiration to all of us involved in the Global Network Initiative. I remember Michael making an instant impression in our first exploratory meetings in early 2006. Michael’s commitment to protecting human rights and understanding how human rights risks and opportunities arise in the internet age shone through instantly and has been with us ever since. Michael’s calm but committed approach will be missed.

Ena Harris | Director, Education for Change

My wish for you is:

“An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth.”

― Bonnie Friedman

Enjoy life and love and family, Michael!

Chris Samway | Corporate Strategy & Business Development, Gap Inc.

My brother Michael has always been my moral compass, an inspirational role model in work and life, and a true friend and mentor. He can also play just about any Jack Johnson song you can think of on his guitar- which is cool. Yahoo!’s been lucky to have him.

Colin Maclay | Managing Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

I have had the great pleasure of interacting with Michael over the past four years in always unknown and often unfriendly territory. Throughout the ups and downs, he has been the consummate team player – deeply thoughtful and strategic in dealing with all manner of challenges; unfailingly (and ridiculously) modest when it comes to his substantial and diverse contributions; actively supportive of the personal and professional well-being of his colleagues both inside Yahoo! and elsewhere; and not only committed to the enterprise and willing to do everything he can to advance it. He has given a master class in both leadership and friendship to those around him. These skills will no doubt serve him well on the high seas, although I am certain that he will return both humbled and more able than ever – especially in otherwise arcane arts such as navigation, blues guitar, and relaxing.

Fair winds and following seas!

Richard Harris III | Director, Breakthrough Collaborative

Michael is a great dude. Besides being one of the few people in the world who went to Duke that I actually like, Michael has so many of the aspirational qualities that a great man should have: a sharp intellect, a great sense of humor, a beautiful family, the ability to make people feel at ease in eleven languages, fluency with a musical instrument, the right amount of gravitas to command the high seas but still look cool on a bicycle, sharp collars without the use of stays, and a broad and deep enough sports knowledge to “just have a beer” with anyone.

He is one of those rare people you meet who is really interested in your story about your garden, your trip, or how you were trying to get in the building to meet your wife that time. No matter who he’s with – lawyers, blues musicians, Igbo people, or the Faz wait staff, every group of people feels like he is “one of them”. He’s someone who can both listen and talk the right amount of time, so that you feel heard but feel like you learned a lot.

And above all, he’s a genuinely nice guy.

I look forward to getting to know you and your family better, and to our friendship growing after the boat returns. But for now, here’s to exciting travels!

Ferial Ara Saeed | Visiting Research Fellow, Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University

Best wishes to a class act — Michael’s intelligent approach and sophistication will be sorely missed.

Jaleh Samway Bast

Miguel, you model hard work, motivation, commitment, and dedication.  You embody loyalty, kindness, brilliance, compassion, and integrity.  You were fortunate to have experienced yahoo! and yahoo! was fortunate to have experienced you.  Enjoy safe travels as you live this next adventure in your life, mom and dad taught you well. I love you. Me.

Eugene Y. Lao | Regional General Counsel, Asia Pacific, Yahoo! Inc.

Michael is an exceptionally talented lawyer, inspirational leader and principled human being, but above all, a dear friend. Replacing this uncommon combination of attributes is nearly impossible. Unless I get a smart dog.

The Miskas

Michael is the type of an individual that most of us strive to become – he is smart, kind, thoughtful, considerate, disciplined and determined to accomplish his goals.  However, his strongest trait is that he is a true “blues man/sailor” who understands and listens to not only his head and heart, but also to his soul.  Sail on!

Pierre Landy | Regional General Counsel, EMEA, Yahoo! Inc.

Thanks Michael for being such a great mentor and friend, not necessarily in that order!

One of my favorite things about you is your ability to delegate and completely let go, as evidenced by the note from you below:

“Pierre, this is entirely your call as to how you organize this conference – You are after all in charge of Europe. I just would like to suggest that you organize it in Paris, for two days, from Tuesday to Thursday, at a Hotel that costs no more than a 150 euros per night, with workshops every morning, a maximum of one team activity during the conference which should look like it’s a serious thing such as visiting Versailles, and then one guest speaker – for the rest, you’re totally free to organize as you see fit, so long as you check with me first”.

Bon vent!

Danny O’Brien | Internet Advocacy Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists

I think it was Buckminister Fuller who theorized that the craziest of visionaries are always prompted to follow the setting sun, and that’s why so many of them had piled up against the Californian coast, ambitious and optimistic but still not quite brave enough to throw themselves into the sea and sail off into the ever-receding future. I am delighted, and unsurprised, that Michael has escaped the iron grip of the land. Fair winds and following seas!

Amaka Okobi

It was a pleasure meeting Michael. He is everything  you said. I wish him and his family all that God has for them. I am glad I had the blessing of meeting him before he left.

Jeff Krilla | Principal, Public Law & Policy Strategies, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State)

In my four years at the State Department when any internet-related issue would make it to the seventh floor, every senior State Department official would ask “What does Samway think?”   Now, every time I watch the movies “The Perfect Storm” or “Waterworld” I will ask the same question.

Many thanks, Michael, for your leadership, innovative thinking and compassion on the issue of Internet freedom.

I look forward to following the exploits of Team Samway on their seafaring blog as closely as I followed the BHRP blog!

Anchors aweigh!

Nicholas Crouch | APAC Senior Manager for Corporate Security & Safety, Yahoo! Inc.

I remember Michael and Jerry Yang shopping in an Egyptian antiques shop on the Middle East trip. As security we would always keep within earshot of the guys we were looking after. Jerry ended up buying some large piece of Egyptian art and haggled very successfully with the Egyptian shop owner who agreed on a pretty fine price. After Jerry had paid for his newfound treasure, the shop owner turned to him and said, “But how can you possibly fit this in your hand luggage?” Michael, being the astute humourist, quipped, “Don’t worry, he has his own plane”. A nanosecond later he realized that perhaps this choice of words was not the best as he was next in line to pay for his newly found Egyptian treasure. Needless to say Michael’s haggling was not as successful as Jerry’s. . .

Mark Bench | World Press Freedom Committee

While I’ve only known Michael through the Global Network Initiative for the last 3-4 years, it’s been sufficient to gain a great respect for his diligence, perseverance, and travel lust!  Because he lived with his family abroad–Chile for 2 1/2 years–and elsewhere, he’s gained a respect for other cultures and peoples.  His spoken Spanish is outstanding, so that if he’s ever caught in the wilds of the Latin American rain forests, I feel certain that he’ll be able to negotiate himself out with panache.  He’s as comfortable in the offices of some of the most prestigious law firms in the United States as he is encouraging a first year student at Georgetown.  We wish him, his wife, their son and daughter the very best on their seemingly quixotic sailing journey.  Perhaps their greatest task will be home [err--boat] schooling their children.  They will be citizens of the world, those lucky kids!  Keep reading good books and sharing titles with us.  We’ll miss you on the GNI, but will never forget your pioneering spirit and remarkable leadership in shepherding the organization through the shoals of getting us set up as a legal entity.  Bon voyage, good friend.

Arvind Ganesan | Director, Business and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch

The first time I met him, Michael told me about how he had done human rights work in Chile about a decade earlier and worked with this other person who was also very interested in human rights.  He asked me if I had ever heard of her, and said that it was funny he asked.  She works down the hall from me and has worked for me over the last five years.  When he finally came to DC, he got a chance to meet her after years.

Jennifer Samway

Hats off (or should I say on) to Michael for his amazing tenure at Yahoo! over the last decade.  His work has been both challenging and rewarding in many ways too numerous to recount in this short note of appreciation.  His dedication and commitment in upholding the highest standards for both himself and his team have been realized.  The trust and respect he has earned from his many co-workers has been demonstrated through all of the kind words, emails, farewell speeches, and thoughtful gifts that have been sent during his last few weeks at Yahoo!.

It has been a wonderful time for our family to be a part of the Yahoo! experience over the years.

We will miss the friendships that have been gained, but hope that you will all follow along with us in our new adventure out in the open water.  It is time for Michael to put all of those wonderful leadership skills he has developed to good use as captain of his own ship and destiny.

Thanks to Michael and Yahoo! for starting this adventure, now it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. . .

Michael Samway, Sr.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Mike.  Now that his corporate image is no longer a consideration, and as a dad proud of both his person and achievements — I’d like to share this with his colleagues.

Homa Samway

Michael always was determined to be a perfectionist and complete whatever he was doing/involved in and to do it right. He is also very kind, giving, and dedicated. I am a very proud mum and blessed.

Reflections on Yahoo!’s 2010 Business & Human Rights Summit

By BHRP

Christine Bader and Sarah Labowitz | Vasanth Rakasi

Guest Post, by Christine Bader, Advisor to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on business and human rights

(See here for video highlights of the Summit, here for photos of the Summit, and here for the 2010 Flickr Gallery!)

As I pored over my notes on the flight home from Tuesday’s second annual Yahoo! Business & Human Rights summit, three themes emerged — context, scale, and education — as did a few reflections about this moment in the tech industry’s history.

Many speakers at the summit urged us to consider technology’s intersection with free expression and privacy in its broader context.  Kum Hong Siew, former member of Singapore’s parliament, stressed the importance of understanding the offline regulatory situation in a country before honing in on the government’s approach to the internet and social media.  Kathleen Reen from Internews reminded us that we’re not discussing mere technical issues, but challenges that are situated within human rights and the rule of law.

Context is critical at both macro and micro levels.  Scott Rubin from Google discussed the difficulty in deciding whether to take down YouTube content, which requires assessing the intention of the uploader.  For example, violent footage could be taken down in accordance with a site’s Terms of Service, but might be critical if revealing excessive force by police.

Scale was considered from a number of perspectives:  global vs local, mass market vs niche, small vs big.  Companies grapple with how to reconcile global policies with local laws and norms; national governments struggle to manage companies’ international reach and content.

Elia Varela Serra believes that demand will grow for niche products like Maneno, the blogging platform she co-founded for sub-Saharan Africa, which enables local language content and easy uploading for areas with poor connectivity.  On the other hand, Sameer Padania of Witness.org tried to build a video sharing hub for human rights activists but found that many of them used YouTube, so switched his focus to ensuring appropriate space for human rights-related content in mass market tools.

The Global Network Initiative (GNI) has forged personal relationships that have proved invaluable when crises occur.  But the GNI won’t always be comprised of the same founding individuals, and aims to grow in terms of membership and the number of people its members touch.  Companies currently take a case-by-case approach to the human rights challenges they face — but that can’t be sustainable for a business like YouTube, to which users upload 24 hours of video every minute.

All of the panels emphasized the importance of education:  about human rights, about the risks of online life and activism, and about the tools that can protect them like UltraReach and AnchorFree.  Kim Pham of AccessNow, Reen of InterNews and Sarah Labowitz of the U.S. State Department were among those who discussed their initiatives to educate constituencies, from activists to journalists to foreign service officers respectively.

I’ve observed and advised GNI since its inception, so have seen firsthand the tech industry’s coming to terms with its impacts on human rights.

The industry is exceptionally dynamic in terms of its products and services, the ways in which its offerings are employed by a wildly diverse population, and its relationships with other companies, governments, and civil society.

But its experience with regard to human rights is not unique.  Many other sectors, most notably extractives and apparel, have gone through a similar process of

1. realizing their impacts on human rights, positive and negative;
2. taking responsibility for those impacts;
3. recognizing that they’ll be more effective collaborating with peers and stakeholders than going it alone;
4. piloting solutions and discussing how to scale them up; and
5. understanding that respecting human rights is a necessary and permanent requirement, but one that will take countless twists and turns — so prioritizing relationships and principles rather than specific prescriptions.

By this time next year, the industry will no doubt be grappling with new technologies employed in new ways by new users, new regulatory and social expectations, new players and different incarnations of old ones.  The Global Network Initiative and Tuesday’s event are terrific examples of that fifth stage above, that I hope and expect will support ongoing collaboration and effective solutions.  Watch this space.

Christine Bader is Advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative on business and human rights.