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Article

9 May 2016

Author:
Michael Samway, Yahoo! Inc.

The Global Network Initiative: how can companies in the information and communications technology sector respect human rights?

Over the past two decades, companies in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector have designed, developed and distributed online tools that have allowed citizens across the globe to share information and communicate in unprecedented and extraordinary ways. At the same time, governments around the world have developed increasingly effective methods for filtering information and monitoring users' online habits and communications. These sometimes competing and sometimes complimentary forces often threaten the internationally recognized rights to free expression and privacy. While the duty to protect these rights for citizens rests solely on the shoulders of governments, ICT companies are increasingly at risk of becoming complicit in government efforts to censor information and disclose online user activity, in particular in places where the rule of law is weak. The chapter considers the emergence of the Global Network Initiative (GNI) as a multi-stakeholder response to evolving threats to freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT industry and as an initiative designed to encourage responsible company decision-making through developing standards, creating an evaluation and learning process, and serving as a platform for collective advocacy.

[Excerpt from the book, "The Global Network Initiative: how can companies in the ICT industry respect human rights?," Business and Human Rights: From Principles to Practice (eds. Dorothee Baumann-Pauly and Justine Nolan, Routledge, London and New York, 2016).]