In some states, censorship reaches frightening new standards. Just take into consideration the Chinese government. The Chinese have restricted access to certain web sites, whose numbers are increasing daily. During the Beijing Olympic Games, China promised to grant foreign journalists unrestricted Internet access, a promise which was broken. The Chinese are also supervised when it comes to online conversations.

To protect the international right to free speech, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and several human rights and public interest organizations have been working on a global code of conduct, which will be introduces as of Wednesday. The code is named the Global Network Initiative, and it seeks to “avoid of minimize the impact of government restrictions on freedom of expression.” The code also wants companies to minimize the restrictions imposed on users regarding free speech and which overly breach their right to privacy.

The initiative was started after Internet companies were accused of collaborating with the Chinese government, by offering information on dissidents. Implementing the code also includes an independent forum and a board of auditors which will analyze the conduct of said companies.

The American companies are not the only ones who are willing to participate in creating and implementing the Global Network Initiative. So far, France Telecom and Vodafone, both European companies, have publicly announced that they are seriously considering participating in the initiative. The founders of the code also hope to attract a number of other companies in their campaign.

Some companies among those criticized for collaborating with governments by not respecting the privacy of their users are not willing to join in the campaign. At&T, Verizon Communications and Sprint Nextel are such examples, all of them having collaborated with the National Security Agency in an illegal surveillance mission planned and carried out by the Bush administration.

Among the participants to the initiative are the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Human Rights Watch, the Chinese Human Rights Organization, the Business for Social Responsibility, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Calvert Group.

The effort has, however, been openly and severely criticized by other human rights organizations, such as the World Organization for Human Rights USA, who have said that after two years of work, the results of the initiative are negligible.
It’s highly possible that the initiative is merely a publicity stunt pulled by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, as the three companies are complying with the Chinese government’s demands regarding result filters. Earlier this month the Chinese partner of Skype, Tom, was discovered to be allowing the receiving and storage of online chat sessions.

The code entails that such operations will no longer happen, all the companies vowing to protect the right of free speech and privacy of their users. This initiative is thought to work because it is a joint effort exerted by a large number of important, powerful and influential companies and organizations. One company or organization working alone would have no effect, as history has shown us so far.