Google, Microsoft & Yahoo Team Up for Web Freedom

Google, Microsoft & Yahoo Team Up for Web Freedom

Tech giants Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have collaborated to promote freedom of expression on the web as well as secure online privacy.


With the help of a new organization, Global Network Initiative, the three companies will establish a new code of conduct for doing business in nations that curb free speech online. The move came subsequent to an accusation that the three firms support internet suppression in nations such as China. The code will oblige the companies to better understand requests for information or restriction from governments.



Cases of suppression of internet freedom and privacy are currently proliferating worldwide, and not just in China. Robert Mahoney, director of the Committee to Protect Journalists said, "In the Middle East and North Africa there is a lot of repression, particularly of journalists. We believe that by acting together we have a better way to change the behavior of governments."



Colin Maclay, acting director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, also added, "This is a trend we need to combat and it is global in scale. As more people get online the problem is going to get worse, so we need to have a network solution to address these problems."



The initiative of the three tech firms and GNI provides an organized approach for participants to "work together in resisting efforts by governments that seek to enlist companies in acts of censorship and surveillance that violate international standards."