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Alongside a group of human rights and public interest organisations, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are planning to introduce a global code of conduct that they say will offer better protection for online freedom of speech and privacy against government intrusion.

The Global Network Initiative (GNI) commits the companies to “avoid or minimise the impact of government restrictions on freedom of expression,” according to the final draft of documents that the New York Times have obtained.

The document states that privacy is not only a human right, but a “guarantor of human dignity”. The initiative aims to commit the companies to try and resist demands for restricting freedom of speech and overly broad demands that could compromise the privacy of their users.

The initiative was set up after human rights groups and Congress criticised the companies for cooperating with the Chinese government’s censorship laws for its citizens. As well as setting out a code of conduct, the initiative will act as a non-governmental forum for companies and human rights groups to join together in the fight against censorship. The GNI will also establish a system of independent authors to rate the companies’ conduct.

Michael Posner, president of Human Rights First, said, “This is an important first step in providing standards for free expression and privacy that obligate companies to do more to challenge government restrictions.”

“It sets up an accountability mechanism that will allow each of the companies to be evaluated over time.”

As well as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo - Vodafone and France Telecom are also considering getting involved, with more companies expected to be involved in the near future.

The GNI has the backing of many large scale human rights organisations including; Human Rights Watch, Human Rights in China, and The Committee to Protect Journalists. Also involved are the Business for Social Responsibility and the Center for Democracy and technology, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and the Calvert Group.

Although things are moving along, its not enough for some human rights activists. Morton Sklar, executive director of the World Organisation for Human Rights USA feels that “after two years of effort, they have ended up with so little.”

He feels that, “It is really very little more than a broad statement of support for a general principle without any concrete backup mechanism to ensure that the guidelines will be followed.”

Currently Google, Yahoo China, and Microsoft MSN search are all cooperating with the Chinese government to filter search results, and more recently the Chinese version of Skype had been modified to save users conversations on to servers run buy Tom, Skype’s Chinese partner.