This is great news and we should encourage these companies – all companies really – to continue their efforts on this front so that when they are tested they will have the backbone to stand up for their code regardless of the cost they must pay to do so. The test is not defining the values but rather standing up for them when it matters.
The code, written over the past two years by technology companies, public interest groups, academics and socially conscious investment funds, covers an array of human rights issues that Internet firms might encounter in repressive countries.