Yahoo! International Values, Communications Technology, And Global Internet Fellowship Fund

Remarks by Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang

Georgetown University

April 3, 2008

Thank you for the kind introduction.

Let me begin by thanking all of our distinguished guests for joining us today and Georgetown University, in particular, for hosting this event. I would also like to extend a special thank you to President John DeGioia whose enthusiasm for the Yahoo! International Values, Communications Technology, and Global Internet Fellowship Fund has been instrumental in making this program possible.

At Yahoo!, the idea for this fellowship originated with the desire to offer opportunities to scholars interested in exploring new ways that technology can make our world a better place. This was not such a far-fetched idea for us, since a part of Yahoo!'s mission is to spur innovation to help users all over the world gain better access to information and more avenues for expression. Just as this fellowship challenges the thinking of students here at Georgetown, the serious issues we face every day as a global business challenge Yahoo! to be the best corporate citizen it can be.

It is for this reason that I can think of no better recipient of this fellowship than Irene Wu, who served with distinction as the first Yahoo! Graduate Research Fellow. Hearing about Irene's work is inspiring, and gives me and Yahoo! great pride as we complete the inaugural year of this important endeavor.

Irene's work on the transformative influence of communications technology on political power around the world exemplifies the type of next-generation research Yahoo! and Georgetown hope to foster with this fellowship.

I was particularly struck by Irene's research involving the effects new technologies can have in response to natural disasters, and the way in which these technologies can spark collective action. In an uncertain world subject to both natural and man-made threats, it is important that we find ways to embrace and utilize technology as a means to prevent catastrophes from occurring and, when necessary, to aid in the recovery process.

At Yahoo!, we had our own experience. In the one week that Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc along America's Gulf Coast, over 1,000 people were killed and over 200,000 more displaced. The confusion surrounding 200,000 missing people left many families paralyzed by fear and unable to determine if friends and relatives survived -- let alone where they might be.

In the first difficult days after Hurricane Katrina, it became increasingly clear that technology could play an important role in helping locate missing persons and alleviate the fear and stress that consumed those affected by the damage. On September 4, 2005, Yahoo! launched a "Katrina People Finder" website that allowed displaced individuals to get word to loved ones that they were safe. We also were able to aid in collecting much-needed funds for the relief effort -- through Yahoo!'s front page, we helped raise more than $54 million for the American Red Cross for Katrina victims.

These are just a few examples of how technology was deployed to relieve the suffering of those affected by the tragedy, and to transform the sympathies of countless Americans into tangible support -- redefining the notion of how a community can come together during a time of crisis.

The desire to stimulate scholarship like Irene's through the Yahoo! Fellowship Fund is deeply ingrained in my company's corporate culture. Yahoo! is a company that was founded on openness, the exchange of information, and trust. These values are essential to what Yahoo! does and represents around the world.

We also hope that through fellowships and scholarships, charity and community service, and through a dedicated effort to be a socially responsible corporate citizen, Yahoo! can do its part to help make the world a better place.

In addition to the Fellowship Fund here at Georgetown, Yahoo! has sponsored the Knight Fellowship at Stanford University, which provides journalists from countries where press freedoms are limited with the opportunity to study in a free environment.

Just as our fellowships challenge others to explore new areas of scholarship, we must constantly challenge ourselves. As an early Internet pioneer, Yahoo! has been at the forefront as our innovative technologies opened up new frontiers for citizens of the world.

With these opportunities also come challenges when these technologies are used for other purposes, ones that contradict our core values of access to information and freedom of expression. We have experienced this as well, which is why Yahoo! has been actively engaged in a human rights dialogue to promote an industry code of conduct that will govern the behavior of leading global technology and communications companies operating in challenging markets. We are working closely with industry partners, academics, human rights organizations, and socially responsible investors to develop new industry standards, and hope to announce the results of our joint effort in the near future.

As a company, we have also taken the initiative on our own to address today's human rights challenges. We recently established the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund. This fund is being administered in coordination with noted human rights activist Harry Wu -- who is here with us today. The Fund will provide humanitarian and legal support to political dissidents who have been imprisoned for expressing their views online, as well as support for their families.

But as people in this city know better than most, governments also have an important role in advancing the values we share with others throughout the world. That's why Yahoo! and other companies have urged government officials here and abroad to pursue the policy changes required for citizens in all countries to benefit from the transformations taking place in communications technology. Most recently, I asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to redouble our government's diplomatic efforts to pursue the release of Chinese dissidents imprisoned for posting information and their own views on the Internet.

These efforts are just a start. By capitalizing on the insights provided by scholars like Irene, the strides made by activists around the world, and the collective efforts of industry and government, I do believe we can use technology to improve people's lives. I look forward to our continued collaboration with Georgetown University to this end, and to ensuring that the goals that inspired the Yahoo! Fellowship are fulfilled.

Thank you.