Google: Don’t Stop Us From Censoring

Recently, a number of groups that own shares in Google put forth a shareholder proposal that would require Google to resist government censorship efforts, and to notify users when consorship had occured despite Google’s best efforts. Today, Google’s board of directors issued a recommendation that the proposal be voted down, ensuring the proposal will never have a chance, since the big three of Page, Brin and Schmidt hold 66.2% of all voting power.
The Office of the Comptroller’s proposal argues that the freedom to access information on the Internet is guaranteed by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Technology companies in the United States such as Google, that operate in countries controlled by authoritarian governments have an obligation to comply with the principles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights,” the proposal said, naming Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, […]

Original post by Nathan Weinberg