human rights

A little more than half of Internet stakeholders surveyed by Pew Internet expected -- or more likely were optimistic about -- a future with greater corporate responsibility when it comes to supporting human rights through technology, according to a study released today (PDF).

The study highlights the ongoing discussion of the tech industry's role in politics, activism, and freedom speech. Recent news highlighting growing discontent of censorship and unethical business practices further push the issue.

The study examined how far tech companies will go to help oppressive governments when it comes to controlling access to technology or following unethical … Read more

A privacy group is claiming that Britain is exporting high-tech spy gear to repressive countries, endangering dissidents, says a report in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper.

The Guardian reports that a group called Privacy International said it has identified at least 30 British companies it believes have exported surveillance gear to Bahrain, Iran, Syria, and Yemen, among other countries. The group also said 50 firms were exporting such technology from the U.S. and that Germany and Israel are also big exporters of spy gear.

The technology includes tools for monitoring mobile phone calls and text messages and for … Read more

Two great pieces of journalism on Apple and its place in the manufacturing economy appeared recently: First, there's a series developing in The New York Times that kicked off in the Sunday edition: "How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work." A follow-on piece, "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad," ran yesterday.

You must read these stories.

Second, listen to the This American Life episode "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory." In this gripping program, monologuist Mike Daisey tells of his trip to the Foxconn plant in China, where … Read more

Nearly seven years after its founding, YouTube employees still fiercely debate where to draw the line between titillating content that may or may not be acceptable.

Including videos of man boobs.

"Recently we had the issue of man boobs--do man boobs need to be age-restricted or not?" Victoria Grand, YouTube's director for global communications and policy, said today, referring to that unfortunate medical condition caused by abnormal development of male mammary glands.

Man boobs, also known as gynecomastia, is an unlikely but popular category on YouTube, in part because mischievous uploaders may imply the exposed bosoms are … Read more

The sites of Chinese Human Rights Defenders and four related groups were targeted by cyberattacks over the weekend, the organization said Monday.

A distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack paralyzed the Chinese Human Rights Defenders site for about 16 hours on Saturday and Sunday, the organization said. Also attacked were Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, Independent Chinese Pen Center, New Century News, and Canyu, the group said.

"Chinese government is the most likely suspect for these attacks," the organization said, though it wasn't able to locate the source and didn't share specific evidence beyond saying such … Read more

NEW YORK--One of the most troubling things about the proliferation of hate speech on social media sites is the potential exposure to young people, Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said here on Wednesday.

The Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights advocacy group, had just released its annual "Digital Terrorism and Hate" report, which this year is focused on the proliferation of hate and intolerance on social networks. The audience consisted primarily of students from Manhattan's Independence High School who were enrolled in a class about genocide and ethnic violence and who had … Read more

A tech industry watchdog plans to investigate conditions at a Chinese hardware factory that supplies IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard, following a damning report on conditions there by a human-rights organization.

The National Labor Committee report, "High Tech Misery in China," said these tech giants use Meitai Plastic and Electronics, a keyboard supplier that operates a factory that "dehumanizes young workers."

In response, the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), a self-regulating body set up by tech companies, will carry out a third-party audit into the working conditions at the factory, IBM told ZDNet UK on … Read more

The DNA records of about 850,000 people could be wiped from the U.K.'s national database after the European Union ruled it breached human rights.

The European Court of Human Rights decision on Thursday means that the DNA details and possibly fingerprints of people suspected of a crime, but later cleared, could be removed.

The court found that in keeping the DNA details of people suspected of a crime the "state had overstepped any acceptable margin of appreciation."

The case was brought by two Britons, Michael Marper and "S", who were cleared of crimes … Read more

Tech companies are trooping to Congress today to testify before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law.

Fairly or not, politicians have held the tech industry's feet to the fire over sundry issues touching on human rights in the age of the Internet. It's been an unsatisfying debate marked by lots of finger-pointing but little in the way of results.

In her prepared remarks, Google Deputy General Counsel Nicole Wong offers a few concrete suggestions that I think make sense. Here's a summary: