Technology for good

Posted April 4th, 2008 at 7:53 am by Jerry Yang, CEO & Chief Yahoo

 8 Comments / Filed in: Trends & News, Yahoo! For Good

“Using technology to make the world a better place.” That was the theme of remarks I made yesterday at Georgetown University, where I had the chance to honor the research of Irene Wu, the inaugural Yahoo! International Values, Communications, Technology, and Global Internet Fellow. Irene’s work is part of a partnership we created with Georgetown a year ago to study the link between international values and Internet and communications technologies.

Our goal is to inspire scholars to explore new ways to use technology for good, particularly in navigating the complexities that go hand-in-hand with the shrinking globe that the Internet has created. These are complexities we at Yahoo! are well familiar with. While we’ve been at the forefront of opening up new communications and information frontiers for citizens of the world, we’ve also seen the challenges that come when these technologies are used by governments for other purposes – those that run counter to our values.

Although our challenges have been widely reported, the full scope of efforts we’ve been making to address freedom of expression and other human rights issues may not be as well known. So I thought I’d take an opportunity to set out some examples:

• Industry Code of Conduct: We’ve been working with industry counterparts, academics, human rights organizations, and socially responsible investors to develop a code of conduct that would guide leading global technology and communications companies operating in challenging markets. We hope to announce the results of our collective efforts in the near future.
• Academic Fellowships: In addition to the Georgetown Fellowship program, we also initiated the Yahoo! International Journalism Fellowship at Stanford in conjunction with the John S. Knight Fellowships program. It focuses on journalists from press-restrictive countries, allowing them to withdraw from their environments for a year of study. The first fellow came from Pakistan and this year’s fellow is from Zimbabwe.
• Human Rights Fund: Recognizing the plight of unfairly imprisoned political dissidents, we established a Human Rights Fund last month to provide humanitarian and legal support for these individuals and their families. We’ve partnered with noted human rights activist Harry Wu, who spent 19 years in a Chinese labor camp, to administer the fund. It will also support educational efforts on human rights. We’re so grateful to have Harry’s partnership in this.
• Policy Dialogue: While we’re committed to advancing human rights globally, there are practical limits to corporate diplomacy. That’s why we’ve been urging government officials in the United States and abroad to advocate for policy change. We believe governments have the most leverage to influence the decision-making of other governments.
• Advocating for Freedom: Having followed these issues intently and having now met personally with the families of dissidents, I understand our responsibility in advocating for their release. In fact, just yesterday, I went to Capitol Hill with Harry Wu to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein to discuss these issues. And I recently sent a letter to Condoleezza Rice before her visit to Beijing, urging support in seeking freedom for Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning. With the Summer Games approaching, there seems to be a perfect window of opportunity for exerting diplomatic leverage. Senior Yahoo! leaders have also met with high-level Chinese and U.S. officials to directly appeal for release. We’ll continue to pursue this doggedly.

We’ve learned important lessons from our experience in China. We hope our experiences and plans can help guide other companies and ultimately influence the emergence of more open societies around the globe — when technology can truly be used to make the world a better place.

Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo

Tagged: human rights, Yahoo! For Good

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8 Comments Add your own

gag | April 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am

wow

madmilker | April 4th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

Jerry….I like the thinking outside the box but please turn your attention to the 6 to 16 group and think for a moment….WIFI+AT&T+Mickey D+your search engine with the introduction of a very cheap simple hand held cross between an iphone and blackberry to surf the net and play games while eating a happy meal….it’s a kids grownup toy and millions of customers down the long hard road to more profit….even one for clubs and bars for grownups…oh! well…jus thinking outside the box of more ways that ad dollars can pay.

Alexis Kauffmann - Galeria de Arte Géssica Hellmann | April 4th, 2008 at 6:04 pm

Although our challenges have been widely reported, the full scope of efforts we’ve been making to address freedom of expression and other human rights issues may not be as well known

I have been following Yahoo’s footsteps for a couple of years now and I must say that you fail to communicate the great stuff this company develops. We all hope you succeed, for the market’s sake.

Judy Campbell | April 5th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Please, PLEASE, PLEASE!!! Don’t sell out to Microsoft. Gates has said that he would own the internet someday, and he just keeps pushing for that end. Please, to don’t sell out on us.

After your roast by the press regarding the China incident, your popularity may have suffered. Hang tight. Your appologized now help the Chinese community to adjust to life in the US, or help our Asian neighbors visit their families more freely, or have better access to the internet to allow contact with countrymen back in the motherland. You don’t have to do such things with a lot of fanfare, just do them earnestly. I’m sure you must have done so already.

I like this article about “Technology for Good” and I wish I could help.

Ajith Sankar | April 6th, 2008 at 9:07 am

Hii All,

Some more ways in which technology can be used for global good. Here are some links through which you can do activities of global good on a daily basis, and that too, without any capital investment.

A. Click to donate sites. By clicking on links at these sites, the sites will engage
in activities of social good.
1. http://www.thehungersite.com
2. http://www.ecologyfund.com

B. Search and donate sites. For every search we do on these search sites, a certain
sum will paid to charities, including environmental charities.
1. http://www.goodsearch.com
2. http://www.everyclick.com

C. Using the unused processing power of our computers for global good.
1. http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org

Thankyou. Happy exploration of the above said links.

Down Pillow | April 6th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

I would like to applaud the efforts of Yahoo in their realistic approach to their role in the internet eco system. I have always enjoyed yahoo’s market basket of goods and services from the early days of free email to the sheer magnitude of websites and services bought over the years.

Keep up the great and realistic capitalistic approach to the ‘web business’ as a business :-)

The Microsoft offer seems to make sense to me as an advertiser. I hope that your two companies join because selfishly I feel some advertising opportunities are left out because of the sheer glut of options.

Capitalisim is the ultimate equalizer and may the best companies win!

Marc | April 7th, 2008 at 7:12 am

Team Yahoo,

I applaud all of your efforets outlined in this post. I would also recommend putting a stronger effort behind accessibility.

Andrew S | April 10th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

Thanks Jerry, this is great to hear. I’m proud of the job you’re doing as CEO!