Google shareholders will propose that the Web search company take steps to ensure freedom of Internet access and establish a review of its operations' effect on human rights, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
A Reuters report said that in one proposal expected to be submitted at the company's 2008 annual meeting on May 8, shareholders will ask Google to commit to certain standards, including a pledge not to engage in proactive censorship or host user data in countries that restrict political speech.
Details:
The proposal will be raised by the New York City comptroller's office, which oversees the New York City Employees Retirement System as well as retirement funds for city teachers, police and firefighters, Google said in its proxy filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
A second proposal put forward by Harrington Investments requests that the company create a board committee on human rights to review the implications of its policies on a worldwide basis.
Google said its board recommends that investors vote against both proposals. The Web search leader will ask investors to keep its slate of 10 directors in office for another year.
C-NET News.com has some other details:
The measure would require that Google: not host data that can identify individual users in Internet restricting countries; resist demands for censorship; inform users when it has censored content; and tell users about its data-retention practices. The proposal is similar to one Google shareholders rejected a year ago that would have prohibited Google from proactively censoring itself.
This come on the heels of efforts by the Chinese government to tighten control of Internet content. China blocked Google's YouTube video-sharing website this month after the biggest pro-independence protests in 20 years began in Tibet, Bloomberg News reported. YouTube also has been blocked in Turkey for allegedly showing images that disrespected the country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
