New director for Global Network Initiative

Global Network Initiative, a corporate and nonprofit coalition working to protect global Internet freedoms, announced today that an executive of British Telecom will be its executive director.

The group, which is supported by Microsoft and Google, said Susan Morgan will take the helm of the nascent organization just as the Obama administration has promised to fight censorship on the Web in China, Iran and other nations.

Facebook, Twitter -- popular global social networking tools -- are not part of the GNI.

Morgan will begin in May. She headed corporate social responsibility strategy, policy and business planning for BT.

GNI said it will form a board of directors that includes eight corporate members: four from nongovernmental organizations, two academics and two investors. Five corporate seats remain empty.