The Global Network Initiative started a two-year collaboration with the...

and several digital freedom and human rights groups; the Industry Dialogue, which has met since 2011 to discuss freedom of expression and privacy in telecom, consists of Alcatel-Lucent, France Telecom-Orange, Millicom, Nokia Siemens Networks, Telefonica, Telenor, TeliaSonera and Vodafone. The GNI will house the work of the Industry Dialogue and provide a “common platform to exchange best practices, learning, and tools,” and the two groups “aim to find a shared and practical approach to promoting freedom of expression and privacy rights around the world,” GNI said. It believes “strength lies in numbers” and pursuing shared goals, said GNI Executive Director Susan Morgan. The Industry Dialogue developed guiding principles (http://bit.ly/WOTHvt) on telecom and freedom of expression and privacy, which will “form the beginning of a more extensive external dialogue with key stakeholders,” GNI said. GNI noted the telecom companies weren’t joining its organization, and that a “review process” will assess their collaboration over the next two years. The collaboration will help GNI learn from telecom companies “the complex human rights challenges they face,” and telecom companies can learn from GNI how to “develop an accountable system to safeguard human rights,” said Arvind Ganesan, director-business and human rights at Human Rights Watch, in GNI’s statement. Google hopes the arrangement “will give the eight [telecom] companies the chance to see the advantages we've found in an alliance that goes beyond industry and includes NGOs and others,” said Bob Boorstin, director of public policy, and Lewis Segall, senior counsel for ethics and compliance, in a Google blog post (http://bit.ly/16pkQfn).