Editorial: Global framework desirable for Google, Facebook and other tech giants to address legal and privacy issues

Tech giants, like other players in the new media landscape, have a role as responsible corporate citizens to protect the rights and safety of their users. Photo / Getty Images

Digital technology has transformed the way in which we live, communicate, and access, store and share information, news and entertainment.

The internet is a largely accessible and equitable medium, where myriad voices can be heard, opinions shared, knowledge gained. Used wisely and well, it is a resource that has enriched our lives. But alongside the immense strides, there have been sacrifices - foremost among them privacy.

The volume of personal information that is gathered (sometimes insidiously) and shared (often unwittingly) is staggering, and questions are increasingly being asked about the roles, rights and responsibilities of the global tech giants.

Hot on the heels of revelations of data mining by Facebook, Google is now under fire for its apparent complacency over legal privacy issues.

NZME, publisher of the Herald, and other New Zealand media outlets are bound by a code of ethics and must adhere to New Zealand law. That means, for example, we obey court orders which may suppress details of victims and/or alleged offenders in order to respect the rights of those individuals to privacy and a fair trial. However, in several recent cases, while we and other media outlets have complied, Google has refused to take down online content - and links - which can breach court orders.

Its reasoning - that it doesn't censor news and its search engine is not based in New Zealand and therefore not subject to NZ law - is problematic. After all, it operates for and profits from NZ users, among many others. And that premise is unfair to all involved: to the individuals who should expect their legal protection to mean something; to media outlets who should work in a level environment; and to the public who should be confident in our open and transparent justice system and the role of the media to inform fairly and accurately, without fear or favour.

Google's popularity, reach and success cannot be denied. Its search engine is highly sophisticated: wide-reaching, accurate and fast. For most people, a Google search is the primary research tool, used for the profound to the profane.

But the downside of its algorithm is that it will also pick up digital information posted, tagged or linked by individuals or groups who may have ignored court orders, posted their own suppositions, and intentionally or inadvertently identified protected individuals.

Google says the amount of information generated is too large to monitor, but it will respond if problematic material is drawn to its attention. The difficulty with tech giants, of course, is in contacting an actual person to start the process.

While the Herald believes in open access to information, we also believe tech giants have a role as responsible corporate citizens to protect the rights and safety of their users.

It may be difficult, but it is surely not impossible - unless we are willing to admit Big Brother has in fact already assumed control. But in an online world supposedly without borders, and supposedly a great leveller, is it really acceptable for some organisations to play by their own rules, flout laws, ignore ethics, avoid taxes and delegate responsibility?

The time is surely ripe for some form of international framework to address these sorts of issues - which will only continue to grow as the wealth of data stored about us on the information superhighway us does the same.