Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have agreed — in general — on how they plan to do business in countries such as China or Northern Korea, which are known to restrict free speech and other human rights. Don’t get me wrong — all countries sometimes and to some degree restrict human rights — but some do it more often and to greater extent than others, and giving them all they ask for can lead to PR disasters (and wrecked lives).

These principles, laid out by The Wall Street Journal (link behind a paywall), took over two years to create, and in them these three companies essentially promise they’ll “protect the personal information of their users wherever they do business and narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy.” Furthermore, if a country has a “track record of jeopardizing personal information and freedom of expression,” they’ll think twice before launching new business there, which includes “discussing the risks widely with their executives and board members.”

Exactly how following these principles will function in practice remains to be seen. It will be almost impossible to implement exactly the same guidelines for small countries such as Northern Korea and huge markets such as China since giants like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo simply cannot afford to forfeit their stake there. If nothing, the guidelines will definitely be scrutinized by the media and any company that claims to adhere to them (presumably, other companies, besides the big three, will follow suit) will be criticized if they do otherwise. Whatever happens, this is a step forward in a world where geographical boundaries are virtually nonexistent for some, but painfully real for others, especially when it comes to free speech and human rights.

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