Microsoft, Yahoo and Google are working together on business
principles to protect free speech when running web operations in
countries with poor
human rights records.
All three firms have been critcised in the past for aiding
oppressive states against dissidents - particularly in China - when
it comes to handing over "private" data to the authorities.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the troika of internet
heavyweights have agreed a common set of principles on how to do
business in nations that restrict free speech and expression.
The companies will promise to protect the personal information
of their users wherever they do business, and to "narrowly
interpret and implement government demands that compromise
privacy," reports the Journal.
In the past, the three have simply said they have been bound by
local laws when it comes to complying with requests for data on
their customers.
So privacy and free speech campaigners will be keenly watching
how far the three will go when it comes to dealing with the likes
of China.
The three will also look closely at a country's human rights
record before moving into it. Sceptics may say that considering all
three are already in the world's biggest market - China - they will
not lose too many dollars from the new strategy.