1.0Center for Democracy and Technologyhttps://cdt.orgMike Grimeshttps://cdt.org/author/mgrimes/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://cdt.org/insights/gni-report-shows-internet-companies-are-institutionalizing-privacy-and-free-expression-principles/">GNI Report Shows Internet Companies are Institutionalizing Privacy and Free Expression Principles</a></blockquote> <script type='text/javascript'> <!--//--><![CDATA[//><!-- /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,d){"use strict";var e=!1,n=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},!c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage)if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(t)if(t.secret||t.message||t.value)if(!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var r,a,i,s=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<s.length;o++)if(r=s[o],e.source===r.contentWindow){if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(i=parseInt(t.value,10)))i=1e3;else if(~~i<200)i=200;r.height=i}if("link"===t.message)if(a=d.createElement("a"),i=d.createElement("a"),a.href=r.getAttribute("src"),i.href=t.value,i.host===a.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(!n){n=!0;for(var e,t,r=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=d.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),s=0;s<i.length;s++){if(!(e=i[s]).getAttribute("data-secret"))t=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t);if(r||a)(t=e.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),e.parentNode.replaceChild(t,e)}}}}(window,document); //--><!]]> </script><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://cdt.org/insights/gni-report-shows-internet-companies-are-institutionalizing-privacy-and-free-expression-principles/embed/" width="600" height="338" title="“GNI Report Shows Internet Companies are Institutionalizing Privacy and Free Expression Principles” — Center for Democracy and Technology" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe>Today the Global Network Initiative (GNI) reached a critical milestone when it published its first independent assessment of Internet companies on their fulfillment of commitments to meet GNI’s principles and guidelines on free expression and privacy. The report showed that the three companies examined – Google, Microsoft and Yahoo – are all meeting those rigorous standards. This is an important result because it shows that the world’s leading Internet companies are embracing these fundamental human rights principles and making them an institutionalized company practice. At the same time, it is important to remember that compliance is not about perfection. It is about continuous improvement and the independent assessments revealed areas where companies may need to focus additional attention.This first assessment, coming in the midst of the barrage of disclosures about NSA data collection programs, also illustrates the limits of independent assessment when it comes to company responses to government intelligence demands. Companies are legally bound to secrecy under US national security law, making it impossible to assess compliance on national security-related requests.