According to news on the afternoon of November 1, the Internet Society of China held a signing ceremony for the "Self-Discipline Convention on Internet Search Engine Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention") in Beijing. 12 search engine service companies including Baidu and 360 signed the convention on the spot. The convention stipulates that all contracting parties abide by the robots agreement. For content that violates the convention, relevant websites should be promptly deleted and disconnected.
The Convention consists of four chapters and 22 articles. It applies to members of the Internet Society of China and Internet practitioners who voluntarily join the Convention, and other practitioners are encouraged to actively abide by it.
The Convention advocates that enterprises resolutely resist the dissemination of obscene, pornographic and other illegal and harmful information, follow internationally accepted industry practices and business rules, abide by the robots agreement, follow the principles of fairness, openness and promoting the free flow of information, and create an environment that encourages innovation. , a fair and just benign competitive environment, respect and protect intellectual property rights, respect the legitimate rights and interests of right holders, protect user privacy and personal information security, resist unfair competition, etc.
According to Hu Qiheng, Chairman of the Internet Society of China, since mid-to-late August this year, in order to standardize Internet search engine services and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the Internet search engine industry, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Internet Society of China has taken the lead in organizing Self-regulatory work on Internet search engine services. On the basis of organizing and conducting research, after repeated discussions and consultations, and after soliciting opinions from multiple parties, the Internet Society of China organized industry experts and relevant enterprises to jointly study and formulate the "Internet Search Engine Service Self-Discipline Convention".
Twelve sponsors including Baidu, Instant Search, Pangu Search, Qihoo 360, Shanda Literature, Sogou, Tencent, NetEase, Sina, Yisou, Yicha Wuxian, and Zhongsou jointly signed the "Internet Search Engine Service Self-Discipline Convention" at the scene, stating that they will Consciously abide by the provisions of the self-discipline convention, continuously improve service levels, strive to improve user experience, and actively contribute to the healthy development of the search engine service industry. (Ai Wen)
Attachment: Full text of "Convention on Self-Discipline of Internet Search Engine Services"
Internet Search Engine Services Self-Discipline Convention
(Published by the Internet Society of China on November 1, 2012)
Chapter 1 General Provisions
Article 1 This Convention is formulated to regulate Internet search engine services, protect the legitimate rights and interests of Internet users, maintain fair competition, a reasonable and orderly market environment, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of my country's Internet search engine industry.
Article 2 The term “Internet search engine service” as mentioned in this Convention refers to the service provided by Internet service providers using specific computer programs to users for online information query through keyword and other search methods.
Article 3 This Convention applies to members of the Internet Society of China and Internet practitioners who voluntarily join the "China Internet Industry Self-Discipline Convention", and encourages other practitioners to actively abide by it.
Article 4 Internet search engine service providers shall abide by the basic principles of law-abiding, integrity, fairness, neutrality, and objectivity, abide by the Internet spirit of openness, equality, collaboration, and sharing, actively safeguard national interests, public interests, and industry interests, and respect rights holders. legitimate rights and interests.
Chapter 2 Self-Discipline Content
Article 5 Strictly abide by relevant national laws, regulations, rules and policies, carry out Internet search engine services in accordance with the law, consciously abide by industry conventions and norms, proactively strengthen industry self-discipline, and strive to create a healthy and orderly Internet search engine service environment.
Article 6 Consciously implement the provisions of the "Self-Discipline Norms for Internet Search Engine Service Providers to Resist Obscene, Pornographic and Other Illegal and Bad Information", resolutely resist the dissemination of obscene, pornographic and other illegal and bad information through search engines, and actively build a healthy, civilized and progressive Internet Search engines spread order.
Article 7: Follow internationally accepted industry practices and business rules, and abide by the robots agreement.
Robots protocol refers to a protocol in which Internet website owners use the robots.txt file to give website instructions to Web robots.
Web robots (also called web visitors, crawlers, and spiders) are programs that automatically crawl the web. Search engines use these programs to index website content, spammers use bots to scan for email addresses, and bots are used for many other purposes.
Article 8 Internet website owners who set up robot protocols should follow the principles of fairness, openness and promoting the free flow of information. Restrictions on search engine crawling should have industry-recognized and reasonable justifications. Robot protocols should not be used to engage in unfair competition and actively create an environment that encourages Innovative, fair and just benign competitive environment.
Article 9: Respect and protect intellectual property rights, respect the legitimate rights and interests of right holders, and actively resist piracy and other infringements; content captured in violation of the robots agreement before the publication of this Convention will be deleted in a timely manner after receiving a notice from the right holder that complies with legal regulations. , disconnect infringing links, and strive to maintain a healthy and orderly online environment.
Article 10 Search engine service providers have the obligation to help protect user privacy and personal information security. After receiving notices from rights holders that comply with legal requirements, they should promptly delete and disconnect links to infringing content.
Article 11: Advocate fair and rational competition, resist unfair competition, maintain a fair, open, competitive, and orderly market order, and actively create a market environment of equal participation, rational competition, and sustainable development.
Article 12: Encourage technological and business model innovation, improve search services, optimize search results, save network resources, and cultivate and maintain an innovative, open, win-win, and virtuous cycle industry ecosystem.
Article 13: Strengthen social responsibilities, strengthen self-discipline, establish effective reporting and complaint channels, actively accept social supervision, promptly discover and improve deficiencies in services, and consciously regulate the operating behaviors of Internet search engine service enterprises.
Chapter 3 Implementation of the Convention
Article 14 The Industry Self-Discipline Working Committee of the Internet Society of China is the executive body of this Convention and is responsible for organizing the signing and implementation of this Convention and timely publicizing relevant national policies, laws and regulations to signatories.
Article 15 Signatory units shall consciously abide by the provisions of this Convention. Any unit or individual that violates this Convention and causes adverse effects has the right to report it to the enforcement agency of this Convention. After verification or evaluation, the implementation agency of this Convention will issue internal warnings and public condemnation in most mainstream media across the country, as appropriate.
Article 16 When disputes and disputes arise between signatories, they shall strive to resolve them through negotiation based on the principle of safeguarding the overall interests of the industry. With the consent of both parties, they may also request the executive agency of this Convention for mediation. The executive agency of this Convention has the obligation to Organize relevant mediation work as soon as possible in a reasonable and compliant manner, and notify the relevant units of the mediation results; if the matter cannot be resolved through industry mediation, you can provide handling suggestions to the relevant management departments.
Chapter 4 Supplementary Provisions
Article 17 This Convention will come into effect after being signed by more than two-thirds of the initiating units, and will be announced to the public by the Internet Society of China.
Article 18 This Convention follows the principle of "dynamic revision and gradual improvement". This Convention may be revised upon the proposal of the implementing agency of this Convention or more than one-third of the signatories of this Convention, and with the consent of more than two-thirds of the signatories. .
Article 19 Any Internet search engine service provider that accepts the self-regulatory provisions of this Convention can sign this Convention; signatory units can withdraw from this Convention and notify the executive agency of this Convention in writing; the executive agency of this Convention regularly publishes the list of signatories and withdrawal units .
Article 20 The relevant implementation rules of this Convention and matters that are likely to cause disputes will be organized by the Convention's executive agency to organize Internet search engine companies to conduct intensive research and discussion. The parts that have reached consensus will be publicly released by the Internet Society of China as supplements to the Convention, and the contracting parties shall jointly abide by them. . If consensus cannot be reached, the convention executive agency will organize Internet search engine service companies to vote under the principles of openness, fairness, and impartiality. The voting results will serve as an important basis for the convention executive agency to make recommendations to the relevant management departments.
Article 21 This Convention shall be interpreted by the Industry Self-Discipline Working Committee of the Internet Society of China.
Article 22 This Convention shall come into force on the date of promulgation.
Attached:
1. International definition of robots protocol
Web Robots (also known as Web Wanderers, Crawlers, or Spiders), are PRograms that traverse the Web automatically. Search engines such as Google use them to index the web content, spammers use them to scan for email addresses, and they have many other uses.
Web site owners use the /robots.txt file to give instructions about their site to web robots; this is called The Robots Exclusion Protocol.
(Source: www.robotstxt.org )
2. List of sponsors of the "Convention on Self-Discipline of Internet Search Engine Services"
Baidu, Instant Search, Pangu Search, Qihoo 360, Shanda Literature, Sogou, Tencent, NetEase, Sina, Yisou, Yicha Wuxian, and Zhongsou.