Plans for internet bill of rights

You can't snoop on my email - that's against the internet bill of rights!

That's the riposte web users could one day have at their disposal if an Italian-led group at the Internet Governance Forum, a UN conference taking place in Athens this week, gets its way, writes David Smith, the Observer's technology correspondent.

A workshop on the internet bill of rights today announced plans for a global statement of principles on freedom of expression, privacy, consumer rights, access to connectivity and knowledge, intellectual property and cultural diversity.

Among other things, the document could become a stick with which to beat Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and other companies that do business with countries such as China, despite Beijing's questionable record on civil liberties.