Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
European Foreign Ministers Call for Internet Freedom
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
It’s always nice hear ringing words in defense of freedom of expression, particularly when it comes from those who help shape Europe’s foreign policy. Foreign ministers from two countries - Sweden and the Netherlands - who have been leading on this issue took time out from busy European Union meetings to come together in Brussels and express their support for an open Internet where information flows freely.
Dutch Foreign Minister
Uri Rosenthal
, pictured at right, called on Europe to take a firm stand in favor of Internet Freedom. His speech represented a clarion call for action, ranging from increased funding to “support to cyber-dissidents operating in repressive circumstances” to convening a joint summit on the issue with Canada in the fall. These priorities are central to the Netherlands’s new human rights policy.
Minister Rosenthal also called on European companies “to commit to joint codes of conduct that guarantee Internet freedom, like the
Global Network Initiative
(GNI).” Three years ago, we helped found the GNI and we recently brought the initiative’s director Susan Morgan to Brussels.
Some 100 Brussels movers and shakers crowded into the International Press Centre to hear the minister speak at a conference organized by the
European Centre for Political Economy
.
Sweden’s Carl Bildt, picture at left, gave an animated keynote speech. When told that the G8 in Paris would discuss plans for a “civilized” Internet, the Swedish Foreign Minister quipped. “If we have a "civilized" Internet, we also will be forced to have a civilized telephone system, a civilized television, and we could even continue with civilized politics.” Minister Bildt’s full speech is can be found
here
.
The Minister attacked repressive governments, pointing to recent net crackdowns practiced by governments in Egypt, Syria and Libya. “A dying dictatorship is defined by its ability to destroy the Internet,” he said. In contrast, a free Internet brings gigantic benefits. "When you set people free you set the conditions for society and the economy to develop." Bildt’s conclusion was simple: "The most important instrument of change in our time is the Internet."
In coming months, we plan to keep pressing our free expression agenda in Brussels - and throughout Europe. We will be vigilant to point out threats to the free Internet, both inside and outside of Europe. We also will be speaking about Google free expression efforts such as our
transparency tools
. Watch this space.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Internet freedom: how should Europe battle online censorship?
Thursday, May 19, 2011
European foreign ministers endure a grueling schedule. Next Monday afternoon, Swedish Foreign Minister
Carl Bildt
and Dutch Foreign Minister
Uri Rosenthal
are taking time out from a crucial European Foreign Ministers’s summit in Brussels to issue a call for Europe to wake up to the dangers facing Internet freedom.
The event comes at a crucial time. Protests sweeping the Arab world demonstrate the power of the Net to give voice to the once silent. With two billion people online, the Internet has accelerated access to information.
On the other hand, governments around the world are attempting to suffocate this freedom.
Reporters Without Borders
counts more than 150 bloggers and Internet publishers imprisoned around the world, and 60 governments censor the web in one form or fashion. Google and YouTube services have been blocked in more than 25 countries.
Although no one should compare democratically elected governmens in Europe and elsewhere to repressive regimes, we have also seen an alarming trend among western governments. People acting out of the best of intentions -- protecting children, a goal that we of course share, are undermining the fundamentals of an open Internet. Courts around Europe are considering
forcing neutral platforms such as Facebook and Google to preview content before it is posted -
and to remove it just because the subject doesn’t like it.
Fortunately, Sweden and the Netherlands have taken a lead to make Internet free expression a priority, even as most of Europe has remained silent.
On Monday, come and hear leading voices for free expression discuss how Europe could step up its fight for Internet freedom and the free flow of information. One of Brussels' leading think tanks,
ECIPE
, is hosting the event. Google is sponsoring. Everyone is welcome to attend.
When
: May 23, 16:00-17:45
Where
: International Press Centre, Residence palace (Maelbeek room), Rue de la Loi 155, Brussels
RSVP to:
info@ecipe.org
Programme:
16:00
- Welcome
16:15
- Opening of Conference by Uri Rosenthal, Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs
16:30
- Panel discussion: Internet freedom of expression: what should be the EU agenda?
17:10
- Keynote Speech by Carl Bildt, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
17:45
- End
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, EMEA, Google
Join us in fighting for freedom of expression
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Three years ago, a group of companies including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo joined with non-profit organisations such as
Human Rights Watch
, investor groups such as
F&C Investments
, and universities such as
Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society
to create
the Global Network Initiative
. Our goal is to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy online by setting minimum ground-rules on dealing for government requests for information.
Notably, all the initial corporate participants were American. While many Europeans expressed interest in the project, none signed up.
Susan Morgan
, a UK native who is the GNI’s executive director, came to Brussels this week, urging Europeans to join the organisation.
In her presentations to the European Parliament, the European Commission and the press, Ms. Morgan pointed to some recent success in attracting Europeans. This year, both the Swedish investment fund
Folksam
and the UK-based NGO
Index on Censorship
signed up. The challenge ahead, Ms. Morgan said, is to bring onboard European corporations.
Members of the GNI commit to a set of principles on how they will handle government requests to hand. The GNI has also reinforced company practices of conducting human rights assessments prior to launching new products or opening new markets. But the greatest potential for the GNI is as a forum for common action - the realisation that companies, NGOs, investors and academics acting together can have a far more powerful impact when we act in concert rather than alone. This Initiative is by no means a panacea, but it’s the kind of forum where we believe progress can be made real.
The issues of freedom of expression and privacy impact companies across the ICT sector; as recent events in the Middle East have shown, freedom of expression and privacy has become a business priority – even for organisations that are not “internet companies.”
European politicians such as Swedish Foreign Minister
Carl Bildt
, Dutch Foreign Minister
Uri Rosenthal
and MEP
Marietje Schaake
have expressed interest. Any effort that is limited to the United States is bound to fall short. Put simply, the GNI needs European organisations to help it reach its full potential.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Supporting free expression and privacy online: the Global Network Initiative comes to Brussels
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
All over the world – from the Americas to Europe to the Middle East to Africa and Asia – companies in the communications and tech sectors face increasing government pressure to comply with domestic laws and policies in ways that may conflict with the internationally recognized human rights of freedom of expression and privacy.
In response, a
multi-stakeholder group
of companies, civil society organisations (including human rights and press freedom groups), investors and academics has spent two years negotiating and creating a collaborative approach to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT sector, and have formed
the Global Network Initiative
to take this work forward.
Susan Morgan, the Global Network Initiative’s executive director, will be in Brussels on Wednesday 4 May to give an early evening briefing about the organisation’s work - and in particular, how it is seeking to attract European support and members.
Please join us at Google's office to hear Susan's briefing, find out about the important work the GNI does and enjoy a post-work drink.
Date
: Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Time
: 18:00-19:00
Where
: Google EU office at Chaussée d'Etterbeek 180, right next to Park Leopold. That's just a 5 minute walk from the Parliament and the Commission.
Registration
: Please
sign up here
if you’d like to attend.
Prior to joining the GNI in June 2010, Susan spent ten years working at British Telecom on corporate responsibility, communications and strategic relationships. She spent the first seven years of her career in the non-profit sector, and is a graduate of Durham University, UK.
Posted by Angela Steen, Policy Analyst, Google Brussels
Real-time traffic graphs for the Transparency Report
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
When we
introduced
the
Transparency Report
last year, we promised to keep looking for new and useful ways to display data about traffic to our services. In response to your requests, today we’re adding graphs for each region that show traffic patterns for all products in aggregate. These graphs will show data with a five-minute delay.
In
this graph
, for example, you’ll see that all of our services in Egypt were down from January 27 to February 1:
Starting today, you won’t have to sift through every single product graph to figure out if one or more services are inaccessible. You’ll get a snapshot up front. We’ve also added annotations for historical anomalies that we’ve seen in the traffic to our services. To see the graph for each cited incident, just click on the corresponding link.
As the Transparency Engineering team lead, part of my job is to ensure that we find, uncover and visualise datasets within Google that can help inform research and analysis on important topics. We believe that providing the facts can spark useful debate about the scope and authority of policy decisions around the globe.
We’ll continue to iterate, and we hope that the Report will help shed light on the accessibility and patterns of traffic to our services around the world.
Posted by Matt Braithwaite, Transparency Engineering Team Lead
Tunisian bloggers win annual Net freedom award
Monday, March 14, 2011
Last week we blogged about the
annual 2011 Reporters Without Borders Netizen Prize
, which recognises bloggers or Internet activists who defend freedom of expression on the Net. This year’s prize went to
Nawaat
, a group of Tunisian bloggers.
The independent jury of press specialists agreed that Nawaat’s online reporting played a significant part in helping to depose Tunisia’s longtime dictator, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. It chose Nawaat as the winner from a strong field of finalists from Bahrain, Belarus, Thailand, China and Vietnam.
Created in 2004, Nawaat.org is an independent collective blog operated by Tunisian bloggers as a platform for all “committed citizens.” The bloggers played a crucial role in covering the social and political unrest in Tunisia that began on December 17. Nawaat recently created a special page for the WikiLeaks revelations about Tunisia, and another one about the recent events in Sidi Bouzid, which were not covered in the traditional media. The site also warns Internet users about the dangers of being identified online and offers advice about circumventing censorship.
Photo © Mat Beaudet
Pictured above from left to right are: Jean-François Julliard, Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders; Former French Foreign Minister and founder of Doctors Without Borders,
Bernard Kouchner
; and Nawaat co-founder Riadh Guerfali, accepting the awards at a ceremony in Paris’
Salon des Mirroirs
.
“We are deeply honoured by this prize. It will help to strengthen the citizen journalism that we have been practising for years at Nawaat, despite all the risks involved,” Guerfali said in his acceptance speech. “This award is not only a tribute to Nawaat but to all our fellow journalists who often risk their lives to keep working in countries where freedom of expression is suppressed.”
Google sponsors the annual Netizen prize. First awarded in 2010, it forms part of our commitment to support the free flow of information and free expression online. Last year, Iranian women’s rights activists
Change for Equality
became the first recipient.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Recognising defenders of free expression online
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
See also:
Google France Blog
Events in the Middle East have sparked a global discussion on the importance of free expression and underline the role the Internet can play in giving voice to the once-silent. And with 1.6 billion people online worldwide, people now have the ability to access and share information at a scale unprecedented in human history.
At the same time, governments around the world are increasingly taking action to prevent free information flow, both online and offline. Repressive regimes are becoming more and more sophisticated - both politically and technically - in restricting people's access to the net.
Reporters Without Borders
counts 119 online activists around the globe who are jailed for expressing their views freely online.
The free flow of information is very much part of Google's core mission, and that's why we've teamed up Reporters Without Borders and are sponsoring a Netizen Prize which will recognise blogger or Internet activist who defends freedom of expression on the Net.
The award will be made at 6:30pm at a ceremony in Paris on the eve of the
World Day Against Cyber-Censorship
. Speakers at the event will include Reporters without Borders President Dominique Gerbaud; Google’s South, East, Middle East and Africa President, Carlo d'Asaro Biondo; Secretary General Jean-Francois Julliard; and Doctors Without Borders founder and former French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner.
In 2010, the award went to
Iranian cyberfeminists
behind the website
Change for Equality
.
We are proud to work with Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that combines a sense of justice with compassion and practical know-how. Above all, we salute the courage of men and women around the globe who fight every day for free expression and the free flow of information.
2011 Netizen Award Nominees
Nawaat, Tunisia:
Independent Tunisian bloggers created a group blog
Nawaat.org
in 2004. It played a crucial role in the coverage of Tunisia’s recent social and political unrest.
Ali Abduleman, Bahrain:
Bahraini netizens consider this blogger one of the Gulf’s Internet pioneers. Ali Abdulemam has been imprisoned in Manama since September 4, 2010 on a charge of disseminating false information on
Bahrain Online
, a forum that gets more than 100,000 visitors a day despite being blocked within Bahrain.
Jiew, Prachatal, Thailand:
Known as Jiew, Chiranuch Premchaiporn is the editor and webmaster of
Prachatai
, a Thai alternative news website. She has repeatedly been arrested and is currently being prosecuted on several charges under the criminal code and the Computer Crimes Act including defaming the royal family. She faces the possibility of up to 82 years in prison.
Tan Zuoren, China:
A contributor to the
64Tianwang
human rights blog, Tan Zuoren is serving a five-year sentence on a charge of inciting subversion of state authority. The website’s editor Huang Qi is serving a three-year sentence. After the May 2008 earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan, Tan urged fellow netizens to come to the province to help document the plight of the families of the victims.
Pham Hoang Minh, Vietnam / France:
A blogger with dual French and Vietnamese citizenship,
Pham Minh Hoang
was arrested on August 13, 2010 in Ho Chi Minh City, where he was teaching at the Institute of Technology. He was formally charged on September 20 with “activities aimed at overthrowing the government” (article 79 of the criminal code) and membership of a “terrorist organisation” (the banned Viet Tan party).
Natalia Radzina, Charter 97, Belarus:
Journalist Natalia Radzina is the editor of
Charter 97
, a news website that covers cases of arrests, physical attacks and harassment involving traditional and online journalists and human rights activists She was arrested on December 20, 2010, one day after the recent presidential election. Charter 97’s founder, Oleg Bebenin, was found "hanged" in September.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
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