[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 628 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 628

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States should preserve, enhance, and increase access to an open, global 
                               Internet.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 19, 2012

   Mr. McCaul (for himself and Mr. Langevin) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States should preserve, enhance, and increase access to an open, global 
                               Internet.

Whereas in a September 12, 2011, letter to the Secretary-General of the United 
        Nations, the Permanent Representatives of China, the Russian Federation, 
        Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to the United Nations wrote of their 
        intention to offer a General Assembly resolution calling for an 
        international code of conduct for information security;
Whereas this proposed code seeks to establish international legal justification 
        for exclusive government control over Internet resources and rejects the 
        current multi-stakeholder model that has enabled the Internet to 
        flourish, where the private sector, civil society, academia, and 
        individual users played an important role in charting its direction;
Whereas countries have obligations to protect human rights, which apply to 
        activity online as well as offline;
Whereas the ability to innovate, develop technical capacity, grasp economic 
        opportunities, and promote freedom of expression online is best realized 
        in cooperation with all stakeholders;
Whereas the proposed code represents a threat to the free flow of information on 
        the Internet and would diminish the universal right to freedom of 
        expression in favor of government control over content in order to 
        preserve political stability, contrary to international law;
Whereas the position of the United States Government is and has been to advocate 
        for the free flow of information, Internet freedom, and multi-
        stakeholder governance internationally; and
Whereas the White House's May 2011 International Strategy for Cyberspace makes 
        an open, global internet a clear policy priority of the United States: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
if a resolution calling for endorsement of the proposed international 
code of conduct for information security or a resolution inconsistent 
with the principles above comes up for a vote in the United Nations 
General Assembly or other international organization, the Permanent 
Representative of the United States to the United Nations or the United 
States representative to such other international organization should 
oppose such a resolution.
                                 <all>