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The Internet Debate Heats Up in Congress

Yesterday the Congress human rights subcommittee held a seven-hour hearing on the internet censorship debate. Republicans and Democrats chastised internet giants Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Cisco for allowing the Chinese government to limit citizens’ access to preapproved websites. Tom Lantos (D-CA), co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, accused the four companies of "nauseating collaboration with a regime of repression,” while Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) equated support for China’s totalitarianism with assistance to the Nazi’s during World War II. Smith later brought Google to center stage, mocking their motto “Don’t Be Evil”, calling the conglomerate “evil’s accomplice.”

Smith hasalready sponsored a bill in Congress that will dictate a set of new mandatory procedures for internet companies. Expected to be introduced in the next several days, the bill would mandate that:

Any U.S. corporation that offers a search service "may not" alter its results in response to the request of an "Internet-restricting country." That last phrase would apparently permit ongoing censorship by Western nations such as Germany, which requires Google to filter Nazi-related sites from search results, and the United States, which imposes a similar requirement on search engines as a result of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Search-engine companies must provide the Office of Global Internet Freedom--a new federal bureaucracy that would be created under the bill--with a list of verboten search terms that have been "provided by any foreign official of an Internet-restricting country."

Any Web site with operations in the U.S. must regularly provide the Office of Global Internet Freedom with a list of content deleted or blocked at the request of an Internet-restricting country.

A new set of federal regulations--apparently aimed at Cisco's routers and software used by the other companies--would be erected to criminalize certain exports to China, Iran, Vietnam and other Internet-restricting nations. Current law permits the export of "publicly available technology and software" to those nations. Those exports would no longer be permitted if software or hardware is exported for the purpose of "facilitating Internet censorship."

Posted by on 02/16/06 at 6:55 PM | E-mail | Print | Digg this | de.licio.us

Comments

This law shows just how global we have become and that there really aren't any more borders.

After reading this paragraph about Germany's shielding Nazi searches, reminded me of Thom Hartmann's book 'What Would Jefferson Do?' when he reflects on the fact that Hitler was once named 'Man of the Year' by Time Magazine in 1931.

Posted by: ChiroDoc on 02/17/06 at 2:41 PM

Most of us wishing for maximum freedom and minimum restriction in our personal and collective lives may at first glance, welcome the idea of Democrats and Republicans coming together in such an apparent non-partisan manner, in apparent concern over human rights issues.

However, it is more than likely that in the long run, congress will use such a proposed " Office of Global Internet Freedom" to ultimately, place greater restrictions on what our own people may access and worse, to ever more, track what we do access. As John Steinbeck and Samuel Clemens might agree, the best laid plans of congressional mice among men tend to ultimately, feed corporate globalization greed at the expense of the human rights and general welfare of the entire planet and every living thing inhabiting it.

Posted by: Richard Aberdeen on 02/18/06 at 6:48 AM

This "slippery slope" seems to have no end.

First, Richard is right when he says, "... it is more than likely that in the long run, congress will use such a proposed " Office of Global Internet Freedom" to ultimately, place greater restrictions on what our own people may access and worse, to ever more, track what we do access."

Second, it seems like an easy way to place a charge on this to circumvent the law (see: Pay extra and avoid pesky airport searches!) and therefore be deemed to be in compliance. Naturally, that charge will be passed on to average American users as it is doubtful that the average Vietnamese has surpassed the average American wage earner- until next week, that is.

Lastly, the meaning of words has been so perverted in the last few years that, undoubtedly, some search, some communication, or any other thing done on the internet by an innocent person does can, and will, be interpreted as a violation of the law when convenient.

Posted by: AmeriPundit on 02/18/06 at 10:10 AM

Very timely article and extremely well written. The topic of Internet censorship can overwhelm and intimidate people, but down-to-earth articles such as these can really help people understand the issues. It's important to know how your congressman stands on these issues and it is our responsibility to try and understand all the upcoming questions about the Internet and its legislation. These types of bills concern us all--they call it the world wide web because its global, baby!

Posted by: Sleepless_in_Seattle on 02/21/06 at 10:34 AM