110 HR 275 RH: Global Online Freedom Act of U.S. House of Representatives 2008-02-22 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IB Union Calendar No. 320 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 275 [Report No. 110–481, Part I] IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 5, 2007 Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. Wolf) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned December 10, 2007 Reported from the Committee on Foreign Affairs with an amendment Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic December 10, 2007 Referral to Committee on Energy and Commerce extended for a period ending not later than January 16, 2008 January 15, 2008 Referral to Committee on Energy and Commerce extended for a period ending not later than February 1, 2008 January 16, 2008 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary for a period ending not later than February 1, 2008 for consideration of such provisions of the bill and amendment as fall within the jurisdiction of that committee pursuant to clause 1(k), rule X February 1, 2008 Referral to the Committee on the Judiciary extended for a period ending not later than February 8, 2008 February 1, 2008 Referral to the Committee on Energy and Commerce extended for a period ending not later than February 22, 2008 February 8, 2008 Referral to the Committee on the Judiciary extended for a period ending not later than February 22, 2008 February 22, 2008 Additional sponsors: Mr. McCotter, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Wu, Mr. Burton of Indiana, and Mr. Sherman February 22, 2008 Committees on Energy and Commerce and the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 5, 2007 A BILL To promote freedom of expression on the Internet, to protect United States businesses from coercion to participate in repression by authoritarian foreign governments, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Global Online Freedom Act of 2007. (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Severability. Title I—Promotion of global internet freedom Sec. 101. Statement of policy. Sec. 102. Sense of Congress. Sec. 103. Annual country reports on human rights practices. Sec. 104. Office of Global Internet Freedom. Sec. 105. Annual designation of Internet-restricting countries; report. Title II—Minimum corporate standards for online freedom Sec. 201. Protection of personally identifiable information. Sec. 202. Integrity of personally identifiable information. Sec. 203. Transparency regarding search engine filtering. Sec. 204. Transparency regarding Internet censorship. Sec. 205. Protection of United States-supported online content. Sec. 206. Penalties. Sec. 207. Presidential waiver. Title III—Export controls for Internet-restricting countries Sec. 301. Feasibility study on establishment of export controls. Sec. 302. Report.

2.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are fundamental human rights, and free flow of information on the Internet is protected in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom to receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers. (2)The Internet has been a success because it quickly provides information to its more than one billion users globally. (3)The growth of the Internet and other information technologies can be a force for democratic change if the information is not subject to political censorship. (4)The Internet has played a role in bringing international attention to issues the discussion of which are forbidden by authoritarian foreign governments, such as attempts by the Government of the People’s Republic of China to suppress news of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2004. (5)Authoritarian foreign governments such as the Governments of Belarus, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, North Korea, the People’s Republic of China, Tunisia, and Vietnam, among others, block, restrict, and monitor the information their citizens try to obtain. (6)Web sites that provide uncensored news and information, such as the Web sites of the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, are routinely blocked in such countries. (7)In June 2003, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam arrested, convicted of spying, and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment and 3 years house arrest (later reduced on appeal to 5 years imprisonment and 3 years house arrest) Dr. Pham Hong Son after he translated an Internet article titled What is Democracy from the Web site of the United States Embassy in Vietnam. (8)According to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the Government of Vietnam in 2004 tightened control of the Internet, requiring Internet agents, such as cyber cafes, to register the personal information of their customers and store records of Internet sites visited by customers. The Vietnamese Government also monitored electronic mail, searched for sensitive key words, and regulated Internet content. (9)The Government of the People’s Republic of China has employed censorship of the Internet in violation of Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. (10)This censorship by the Chinese Government allows that Government to promote a xenophobic—and at times particularly anti-American—Chinese nationalism, the long-term effect of which will be deleterious to United States efforts to improve the relationship between the United States and China. (11)Technology companies in the United States that operate in countries controlled by authoritarian foreign governments have a moral responsibility to comply with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (12)Technology companies in the United States have succumbed to pressure by authoritarian foreign governments to provide such governments with information about Internet users that has led to the arrest and imprisonment of cyber dissidents, in violation of the corporate responsibility of such companies to protect and uphold human rights. (13)Technology companies in the United States have provided technology and training to authoritarian foreign governments which have been used by such governments in filtering and blocking information that promotes democracy and freedom. (14)Technology companies in the United States should develop standards by which they can conduct business with authoritarian foreign governments while protecting human rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

3.

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Appropriate congressional committees

Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the term appropriate congressional committees means— (A)the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and (B)the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. (2)

Foreign official

(A)

In general

The term foreign official means— (i)any officer or employee of a foreign government or any department, agency, state-owned enterprise, or instrumentality thereof; or (ii)any person acting in an official capacity for or on behalf of any such government or department, agency, state-owned enterprise, or instrumentality. (B)

State-owned enterprise

For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term state-owned enterprise means a commercial entity in which a foreign government owns, directly or indirectly, more than 50 percent of the outstanding capital stock or other beneficial interest in such commercial entity. (3)

Internet

The term Internet means the combination of computer facilities, telecommunications facilities, electromagnetic transmission media, and related equipment and software, comprising the interconnected worldwide network of computer networks that employ the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or any successor protocol to transmit information. (4)

Internet content hosting service

The terms Internet content hosting service and content hosting service mean a service that— (A)stores, through electromagnetic or other means, electronic data, including the content of Web pages, electronic mail, documents, images, audio and video files, online discussion boards, and Web logs; and (B)makes such data available via the Internet. (5)

Internet jamming

The term Internet jamming means jamming, censoring, blocking, monitoring, or restricting access to the Internet, or to content made available via the Internet, by using technologies such as firewalls, filters, and black boxes. (6)

Internet-restricting country

The term Internet-restricting country means a country designated by the President pursuant to section 105(a) of this Act. (7)

Internet search engine

The term Internet search engine or search engine means a service made available via the Internet that, on the basis of query consisting of terms, concepts, questions, or other data input by a user, searches information available on the Internet and returns to the user a means, such as a hyperlinked list of Uniform Resource Identifiers, of locating, viewing, or downloading information or data available on the Internet relating to that query. (8)

Legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes

(A)

In general

The term legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes means for purposes of enforcement, investigation, or prosecution by a foreign official based on a publicly promulgated law of reasonable specificity that proximately relates to the protection or promotion of the health, safety, or morals of the citizens of that jurisdiction. (B)

Rule of construction

For purposes of this Act, the control, suppression, or punishment of peaceful expression of political or religious opinion, which is protected by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, does not constitute a legitimate foreign law enforcement purpose. (9)

Personally identifiable information

The term personally identifiable information— (A)includes any information described in section 2703(c)(2) of title 18, United States Code; and (B)does not include— (i)any traffic data (as such term is defined in section 201(b) of this Act); or (ii)any record of aggregate data that does not identify particular persons. (10)

Substantial restrictions on internet freedom

The term substantial restrictions on Internet freedom means actions that restrict or punish the free availability of information via the Internet for reasons other than legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes, including— (A)deliberately blocking, filtering, or censoring information available via the Internet based on its peaceful political or religious content; or (B)persecuting, prosecuting, or otherwise punishing an individual or group for posting or transmitting peaceful political or religious opinions via the Internet, including by electronic mail. (11)

United states business

The term United States business means— (A)any corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, business trust, unincorporated organization, or sole proprietorship that— (i)has its principal place of business in the United States; or (ii)is organized under the laws of a State of the United States or a territory, possession, or commonwealth of the United States; (B)any issuer of a security registered pursuant to section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l); and (C)any foreign subsidiary of an entity described in subparagraph (A) or (B) to the extent such entity— (i)controls the voting shares or other equities of the foreign subsidiary; or (ii)authorizes, directs, controls, or participates in acts carried out by the foreign subsidiary that are prohibited by this Act. (12)

United States-supported content

The term United States-supported content means content that is created or developed, in whole or in part, by a United States-supported information entity. (13)

United States-supported information entity

The term United States-supported information entity means— (A)any authority of the Government of the United States; and (B)any entity that— (i)receives grants from the Broadcasting Board of Governors to carry out international broadcasting activities in accordance with the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (title III of Public Law 103–236; 22 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.); (ii)exists within the Broadcasting Board of Governors and carries out nonmilitary international broadcasting activities supported by the Government of the United States in accordance with such Act; or (iii)receives grants or other similar funding from the Government of the United States to carry out any information dissemination activities. (14)

United States-supported web site

The term United States-supported Web site means a location on the World Wide Web that is owned or managed by, or is registered to, a United States-supported information entity.

4.

Severability

If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of this Act, and the application of such provision to other persons not similarly situated or to other circumstances, shall not be affected by such invalidation.

February 22, 2008 Committees on Energy and Commerce and the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed