Reporters Without Borders is organizing a press conference on "Corporate Responsibility and Freedom of Expression" in New York at the Overseas Press Club on Monday at 11:30am. According to the press relase:
25 North American, European, and Australian investment funds and other organizations, who collectively represent over 21 billion dollars under management, have endorsed a joint statement in which they affirm their commitment to freedom of expression on the Internet, and in which they agree, among other things, to monitor business practices being implemented in repressive countries by Internet-sector companies.
The statement will be released at the press conference, where the wife of a jailed Chinese cyber-dissident will also speak. Read on for the full press release and contact information.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Monday,
November 7, 2005, at 11.30 a.m.
Overseas Press
Club
40 West 45 Street,
New York, NY 10036
Corporate
Responsibility and Freedom of Expression
Concerned by allegations that some U.S.
companies in the Internet sector are cooperating with authoritarian governments
to censor speech and imprison dissidents, and by recent revelations of the role
allegedly played by Yahoo! in the prison sentencing of a Chinese
journalist,
A group of 25
investment managers, research houses, foundations, and religious investors have
called on Internet businesses to publicly state support for freedom of
expression world wide and agreed to monitor operations of Internet businesses in
repressive regime countries
Following Reporters Without Borders'
lead, 25 North American, European, and
Australian investment funds and other organizations, who collectively represent
over 21 billion dollars under management, have endorsed a joint statement in which
they affirm their commitment to freedom of expression on the Internet, and in
which they agree, among other things, to monitor business practices being
implemented in repressive countries by Internet-sector
companies.
At the press conference, the two firms
that have supported Reporters Without Borders' joint statement from the start -
Boston Common Asset Management, LLC and Domini Social Investments LLC, will
explain why their respective institutions
are committed to the principles of the declaration and the business risks that
face IT sector companies that collaborate to suppress freedom of opinion and
expression. They will also discuss some of the concrete implications
of this statement.
For the first time in the United
States, Lu
Kun, the wife of Chinese cyberdissident Yang Zili, will attest to the fate
awaiting dissident Internet users and website managers in her
country. In May 2003, her husband was sentenced to 8 years in prison for
creating an Internet website advocating democracy - a case reminiscent of the
one involving Shi Tao, who received a 10 year prison sentence in April for
posting data considered to be a "State secret" on an Internet website based in
the US. Boston
The text of the investor statement
will be distributed at the press conference, together with the complete list of
co-signers.
Guest Speakers:
-
Dawn Wolfe, Social Research and Advocacy Analyst,
- Adam M.
Kanzer, Director of Shareholder Advocacy, Domini Social Investments
LLC;
- Lu Kun, the
wife of imprisoned cyberdissident Yang Zili
- Julien Pain, Head of the Internet Freedom
Desk, Reporters Without
Borders.
If you wish to plan to attend, please
contact:
Lucie
Morillon Washington Representative,
[email protected], cell phone: (202) 256-5613
I'm game. My notebook won't be with me though. I'll have to sharpen some pencils.
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