vRRitti.com, providing sentiency

Google and Microsoft present too.

Verhagen: Work has already begun in various ways. The Netherlands has acquired considerable experience in recent years with supporting projects to promote freedom of expression, particularly on the internet. We are supporting efforts in Belarus, Burma, Iran and other countries aimed at ensuring the greatest possible media diversity. The focuses include scope for a free internet and respect for freedom of speech on the internet. The Netherlands is also working systematically to defend the rights of bloggers and other cyber dissidents who are contending with censorship, persecution or even imprisonment. These Dutch experiences will be presented later this afternoon. In response to the Iranian elections – a striking example of the role of the new media in information provision – I raised in the European Union the issue of protecting freedom of expression on the internet and defending internet access. The possibility was discussed in the EU of drafting a corporate code of conduct to prevent internet filters from ending up in the hands of the wrong regimes. By the way, I am pleased that companies are increasingly aware of the role they can play in promoting human rights. It is good to see that companies, for example in the US, are themselves taking the initiative to develop codes of conduct. I have proposed in the EU that we either endorse a US code or develop a European variant, so that European companies too send a clear message about the importance of fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression.

Full speech: http://www.isria.com/pages/8_July_2010_80.php

UPDATE: Next year’s conference will be held in The Hague. At the current one, 75 representatives of governments, companies and international organizations were present.

See also

Communiqué issued by the French and Dutch foreign minister
http://ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article1659

and

Dutch Cartoonist Arrested, Released for Anti-Muslim Drawings
Nekschot’s work is primarily published on the Internet. His Web site divides his work over more than 10 categories, including “science” and “modern life.” Most of Nekschot’s cartoons feature Muslims and people of color.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3340581,00.html

Anti-Verdonk activists arrested
http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=68463

Arrest in Holland at anti-Wilders demonstration
http://www.matador94.nl/current-events/arrest-in-holland-at-anti-wilders-demonstration

Netherlands: Legal battle over banner texts
http://www.spinwatch.org/-news-by-category-mainmenu-9/180-dutch-politics-a-govt/2127-netherlands-legal-battle-over-banner-texts

Balkenende: Banners against Verdonk ‘really terrible‘
http://forum.expatica.com/Balkenende-Banners-Verdonk-t68823.html