WebProNews

Tag: GNI

  • Google Announces 2012 Policy Fellows

    Pablo Chavez, Director of Public Policy at Google, just Google+Public+Policy+Blog%29″ target=”_blank”>announced the 2012 Google Policy fellows. The Google Policy Fellowship is a program which offers undergraduate, graduate and law students interested in web and technology policy the opportunity to spend the summer contributing to the public dialogue in these arenas, while exploring their academic and professional futures.

    This year’s roster of 15 was drawn from 1300 applicants from 12 different schools, from public policy, economics, computer science, engineering, law and science and technology departments. Below is the full list:

    Derek Attig, University of Illinois, ALA Washington
    Justin Kaufman, George Washington University, Public Knowledge
    Lassana Magassa, University of Washington, New America Foundation
    Daniel Lieberman, George Washington University, Future of Music Coalition
    Anjney Midha, Stanford University, Technology Policy Institute
    Yana Welinder, Harvard University, Electronic Frontier Foundation
    Jonathan Miller, Georgetown University, Center for Democracy & Technology
    Michael Corliss, University of Illinois, TechFreedom
    Kieran Bergmann, University of Ottawa, Citizen Lab
    Sumitra Nair, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Center for Political Studies
    Andrew Blanco, Stanford University, Creative Commons
    Brenda Villanueva, University of Maryland, National Hispanic Media Coalition
    Brian Picone, Brown University, Competitive Enterprise Institute
    Laurie Birbilas, McGill University, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic
    Leonard Hyman, University of Southern California, Internet Education Foundation

    The group with spend 10 weeks this summer with the various host organizations of the internship, working on policy regarding free expression, privacy, security, and intellectual property – all of which are facets of Google’s membership in the Global Network Initiative.

  • Google Revisits Global Network Initiative

    Google Revisits Global Network Initiative

    Back in 2008, Google first got on board with the Global Network Initiative, and now the search giant’s Public Policy Blog has just Google+Public+Policy+Blog%29″ target=”_blank”>checked in with the GNI’s annual report. The Global Network Initiative fosters free expression, while protecting privacy globally. Members of the GNI protest their users by:

    – Evaluating against international standards government requests to censor content or access user information
    – Providing greater transparency
    – Assessing human rights risks when entering new markets or introducing new products
    – Instituting employee training and oversight programs

    The founders of the GNI – Google, Microsoft and Yahoo all agreed that they should measure themselves against the standards of the initiative – and Google’s Bob Boorstin, Director, Public Policy, and Lewis Segall, of the Senior Ethics and Compliance Counsel, commented on the results of the annual report that was released yesterday – “After reviewing them, the non-company members of GNI have told us that while we’re by no means perfect, the assessments are credible and rigorous and demonstrate that companies are making progress — a concrete step in our efforts to build trust not only with our GNI partners but with all our users.”

    Google adds that it seeks to promote free expression and privacy around the globe, and takes steps that go beyond their membership in the GNI. These comments come only a few months after Google controversially changed its privacy policy, with up to 2/3 of users initially stating they would delete their accounts once the changes took effect.