Yahoo, Google, Microsoft Try Not Being Evil

Google's informal motto is a simple one, "don't be evil." It has certainly helped the hipster search giant's reputation among, well, hipster Web searchers, though the company hasn't always lived up to its ideal. Take for example the company's alleged complicity with China's Golden Shield Project, which monitors Internet traffic coming into the country for information the authoritarian government finds inappropriate, which has been condemned by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Yahoo, whose Mountain View, Ca., office halls sport posters of Google, asking the question, "Sometimes evil?," has also been put on the hot seat for its ethical gaffs in China. After Yahoo turned over the personal information of Chinese dissident, Shi Tao to the Chinese authorities â€" which sentenced him to 10 years in laogai â€" CEO Jerry Yang was compelled to the ultimate Chinese act of contrition: bowing three times to the Tao's mother during a congressional hearing.

Not to be outdone on the "evil" front, in 2005 Microsoft was roundly condemned for assisting authorities in stifling Chinese bloggers by helping censors remove words like "freedom" and "democracy."

Just as China has been cleaning house for the Beijing Olympics, it appears the three companies are trying to clean up their ethical acts with regard to human rights in China and elsewhere. They have reached a voluntary agreement to adhere to a code of conduct when dealing with Internet-restricting countries. The deal comes at the prompting of U.S. Senators, Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who were concerned that the three might be forced by the Chinese government to turn over Internet data of athletes, journalists and others at the Olympics.

Though the companies have thus far provided few details of the code of conduct, it is said to involve "principles of expression and privacy," and will provide implementation of guidelines, a "learning framework" â€" whatever that is â€" and a system of assessment.

Said Michael Samway, vice president and deputy general counsel of Yahoo in letter to Durbin and Coburn, "Events around the world make a code of conduct not just ideal but essential, as companies and others work to ensure the protection of basic human rights for citizens across the globe."

Without more details, it's hard to tell if this is for real or the ethical equivalent of "green washing." How can Internet companies protect the human rights in places like China and expect to continue to do business there? What real trade-offs will these companies make?