[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 82 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H4784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COMMERCE AND CENSORSHIP

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, as Congress considers the Central 
American Free Trade Agreement, we can look on the other side of the 
world on what our trade agreements and trade policies have wrought.
  USA Today has an editorial today I will read from for a moment: 
``Part of the Internet's magic is the freedom it bestows to travel as 
far as your mind can take you. But not if you're in China.
  ``Software giant Microsoft has agreed to block certain words: 
democracy, freedom, and human rights among them,'' on the Internet as 
part of its new Chinese Internet portal. They have been joined by Yahoo 
and by Google.
  So, Mr. Speaker, write in the words ``democracy'' or ``freedom'' or 
the phrase ``human rights,'' and what comes up on your screen as those 
words are blocked? It says, ``This item should not contain forbidden 
speech, such as profanity.'' Human rights, freedom, democracy? That is 
profanity?
  Mr. Speaker, these trade agreements we have signed, coupled with our 
striving for freedom around the world and what our businesses say about 
their wanting to promote freedom and democracy, sound a bit hollow.

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