14 DAY TRIAL // In October 2008, Yahoo! founded and launched the GNI (Global Network Initiative) program, with the main goal to maintain the Internet as a global platform for information, personal expression, innovation and economic development. GNI represents the international initiative and effort of a group of information and communications technology companies, academics, investors, human rights organizations and technology leaders.
Mary Robinson, founder and president stated, “I welcome the collaborative approach that the Global Network Initiative is taking to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy. This new initiative provides a practical framework for business, human rights groups, the investment community, and academia to work together to advance fundamental human rights principles.” She also said, “While an important first step, the success of this and other multi-stakeholder initiatives addressing human rights issues will depend over the long run on whether they bring about concrete changes in the way businesses respond to unwarranted government restrictions, and whether they develop credible systems of accountability to assess implementation of commitments made.”
“It takes a proactive, collaborative approach to make significant progress on promoting free expression and Yahoo! has been a thoughtful and committed partner. This summit gives us a great forum to discuss how GNI can help companies around the world to address the complex challenges at the intersection of human rights and technology,” mentioned Leslie Harris, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
Continuing in the same manner, Yahoo! partnered with other two grand brands on the Internet – Google and Microsoft – alongside the human rights leaders, in order to promote human rights and free expression online.
So, on May 5, 2009 Yahoo! hosted a Business & Human Rights Summit at its Sunnyvale campus where it brought together experts from the business, academic, journalist, human rights and advocacy communities, in order to discuss a fundamental human right – the freedom of expression and its challenges from all over the world.
The one who coordinated the discussion was Ory Okolloh, a Kenyan blogger and the executive director of Ushahidi, an outsourcing platform developed for crisis situations in Kenya, which now allows people around the world to gather and share news concerning unpredictable situations by mobile phone, email and the web.
Michael Samway, Yahoo!'s vice president and deputy general counsel, stated, “Yahoo! was founded on the belief that access to information can enrich people's lives, and we hope this summit and our other initiatives will both stimulate greater awareness about free expression issues and bring others to this important cause.”
In addition, a panel called "Social Media and Citizen Journalists" was created in order to discuss the impact of Internet usage and social media in certain regions and increase the efforts of journalists and social entrepreneurs from Africa, Asia and the Middle East to support free expression and develop social challenge. The participants are represented by the Indian blogger Gaurav Mishra, the Ethiopian journalist and former prisoner of conscience Abebe Gellaw, both of them being a part of Yahoo!’s initiative to facilitate freedom of expression in information era in Georgetown and Stanford universities, Ushahidi's Okolloh, Bahraini journalist Amira Al Husseini, and panel moderator Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN Beijing and Tokyo bureau chief.
“As more people around the world turn to the Internet to advocate for human rights, the challenges they face from governments and other powerful entities are also growing more complex and sophisticated. The stories told by our panelists about online activism in Asia, Africa and the Middle East are inspiring. They also show how decisions made by Internet and telecommunications companies can have a big impact on what is and isn't possible,” Rebecca MacKinnon said.