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Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders are urging search engine providers Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to take part in a protest against cyber censorship.
Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders are urging search engine providers Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to take part in a protest against cyber censorship.
March 12 2009, marks the date of the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, and human rights groups are hoping that the tech giants will take part in the protest. Amnesty and Reporters have posted an open letter to the companies urging their support.
The letter states:
“World Day Against Cyber Censorship is a day to advance and celebrate a free internet as an open window to the world and denounce the attacks made on the free flow of information online.
“In the spirit of fostering freedom of expression, we are asking that you do not censor any of your search engines or blog platforms anywhere around the world on this day,”
“We urge you, on March 12th, to champion the vision of the internet as a free space for everyone, regardless of nationality or geographic location, and fulfil the idea of a truly worldwide web – even if just for one day.
According to RSF and Amnesty there are more than 20 countries that currently routinely restrict internet access, banning sites that do not adhere to their world view.
Amnesty and RSF believe that by complying with demands from individal governments, companies such as Google and Yahoo are complicit in allowing the bans to continue. The letter went on to say:
“Your assistance allows states, such as China, to out-right ban access to information on ‘human rights,’ ‘Dalai Lama,’ ‘Charter 08’ or ‘democracy,’ as well as to respected human rights websites.”
As yet there is no response from any of the tech giants.
