[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 155 (Wednesday, December 5, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6644-H6646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENSE OF CONGRESS ON GOVERNANCE OF THE INTERNET
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur
in the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 50) expressing the sense of
Congress regarding actions to preserve and advance the multistakeholder
governance model under which the Internet has thrived.
The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:
S. Con. Res. 50
Whereas given the importance of the Internet to the global
economy, it is essential that the Internet remain stable,
secure, and free from government control;
Whereas the world deserves the access to knowledge,
services, commerce, and communication, the accompanying
benefits to economic development, education, and health care,
and the informed discussion that is the bedrock of democratic
self-government that the Internet provides;
Whereas the structure of Internet governance has profound
implications for competition and trade, democratization, free
expression, and access to information;
Whereas countries have obligations to protect human rights,
which are advanced by online activity as well as offline
activity;
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 proposals have been put forward for consideration
at the 2012 World Conference on International
Telecommunications that would fundamentally alter the
governance and operation of the Internet;
Whereas the proposals, in international bodies such as the
United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations
Commission on Science and Technology for Development, and the
International Telecommunication Union, would attempt to
justify increased government control over the Internet and
would undermine the current multistakeholder model that has
enabled the Internet to flourish and under which the private
sector, civil society, academia, and individual users play an
important role in charting its direction;
Whereas the proposals would diminish the freedom of
expression on the Internet in favor of government control
over content;
Whereas the position of the United States Government has
been and is to advocate for the flow of information free from
government control; and
Whereas this and past Administrations have made a strong
commitment to the multistakeholder model of Internet
governance and the promotion of the global benefits of the
Internet: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the
Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of
Commerce, should continue working to implement the position
of the United States on Internet governance that clearly
articulates the consistent and unequivocal policy of the
United States to promote a global Internet free from
government control and preserve and advance the successful
multistakeholder model that governs the Internet today.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Eshoo) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Tennessee.
General Leave
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and insert extraneous material in the Record for S. Con. Res. 50.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Tennessee?
There was no objection.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
This week, representatives from 193 countries are meeting in Dubai to
reexamine an international treaty dealing with telecommunications.
Several hostile countries are seeking to use this opportunity to impose
new international regulations on the Internet.
We need to send a strong message to the world that the Internet has
thrived under a decentralized, bottom-up, multistakeholder governance
model. That is why I stand in strong support of Senator Rubio's Senate
Concurrent Resolution 50. The U.S. is united in its opposition to
international control over Internet governance, and we've seen
leadership pushing back against ceding more power to the International
Telecommunication Union. It is referred to as the ``ITU.'' It's a
branch of the United Nations.
Some want to give it new powers. Several countries see the Internet
as a tool for political and/or economic control that they want to
exploit. For example, Russia's Vladimir Putin has openly stated his
intention to seek ``international control over the Internet using the
monitoring and supervisory capabilities of the ITU.'' Just last week,
the Syrian Government shut off Internet access as the regime sought to
suppress the free exchange of information among its private citizens.
But it's because the Internet is the ultimate tool of political and
economic liberation that we should foster and protect it, not give
those who fear its impact on politics and the economy the power to
repress its continued innovation and untapped potential.
I also want to make an important point about our legitimacy in the
fight to keep the Internet thriving, democratic, and decentralized.
Unfortunately, we did undermine our credibility when the Federal
Communications Commission imposed net neutrality regulations without
the proper statutory authority to do so. Even Ambassador Verveer at the
State Department had made the point. He said in 2010 that the net
neutrality proceeding ``is one that could be employed by regimes that
don't agree with our perspectives about essentially avoiding regulation
of the Internet and trying to be sure not to do anything to damage its
dynamism and its organic development. It could be employed as a pretext
or as an excuse for undertaking public policy activities that we would
disagree with pretty profoundly.''
{time} 0950
We need to pass S. Con. Res. 50 and rebuild our credibility in
support of Internet freedom. Regulating beyond our authority at home
sets a very bad example when we want to oppose truly devastating
regulations at the international level. Despite our domestic
disagreements on telecom policy, one thing both sides of the aisle can
agree on is that we should uphold the Internet governance model that's
working. Let's not try to fix what's not broken.
In Dubai, we want our country promoting private markets and U.S.
interests. Let's encourage the decentralized governance model that's
been successful in the past, and let's show leadership instead of
giving away broad regulatory powers to those who don't deserve and who
should not have it.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
[[Page H6645]]
Mr. Speaker, it's fitting that on the week in which the World
Conference on International Telecommunications convenes in Dubai that
the House will once again take up a resolution demonstrating the
bipartisan commitment of Congress to preserve the open structure and
multistakeholder approach that has guided the Internet over the past
two decades.
I think we are all very, very proud that there is not only bipartisan
but bicameral support underlying this resolution, and there is complete
support across the executive branch of our government. In other words,
the United States of America is totally unified on this issue of an
open structure, a multistakeholder approach that has guided the
Internet over the past two decades.
The Senate resolution before us today, Mr. Speaker, makes a minor
technical change to a resolution that the House passed unanimously in
August by a vote of 414-0. I have no objection to this change, and I
ask my colleagues to support this bipartisan measure.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 4 minutes to the
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), who is the chairman of the
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
Mr. WALDEN. I thank my colleague and friend for the time.
I rise today in support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 50, which, as
you've heard, opposes international regulation of the Internet. It is
virtually identical to the language that our friend and colleague
Representative Mary Bono Mack put forward in H. Con. Res. 127, which
was introduced earlier this year and passed by my subcommittee and in
the full Energy and Commerce Committee and went on to pass this House
without opposition. With this vote, we unify that language and we send
a strong bipartisan, bicameral signal about America's commitment to an
unregulated Internet.
I want to thank Representative Bono Mack for championing this
important legislation to keep the Internet free from government
regulation. I also wish to thank FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, who
has tirelessly sounded the call, not only about the peril we face if we
stand idly by as countries like Russia and China seek to exert control
over the Internet, but also about how FCC's own actions adopting
network neutrality rules regulating the Internet undermine America's
case abroad.
I also fear that recent talks of cybersecurity executive orders here
at home may be cited back to us by some foreign nations with them
accusing us of telling them to do as we say but not as we do.
The historical hands-off regulatory policy has allowed the Internet
to become the greatest vehicle for global, social, and economic liberty
since the printing press. And despite the current economic climate, it
continues to grow at an astonishing pace.
FCC Commissioner McDowell and Chairman Genachowski are in Dubai this
week as U.S. delegates to the World Conference on International
Telecommunications. Our committee has also sent representatives from
both parties to keep an eye on the proceedings. There, the 193 member
countries of the United Nations are considering whether to apply to the
Internet a regulatory regime that the International Telecommunications
Union created in the 1980s for old-fashioned telephone service, as well
as whether to swallow the Internet's nongovernmental organizational
structure whole and make it part of the United Nations. Neither of
these are acceptable outcomes and must be strongly opposed by our
delegation.
Among those supportive of such regulation is Russian President
Vladimir Putin, who spoke positively about the idea of ``establishing
international control over the Internet,'' to use his own words. Some
countries have even proposed regulations that would allow them to read
citizens' email in the name of security, require citizens to register
their email addresses for tracking purposes, and to charge for Internet
access to their countries on a per-click basis.
This resolution rejects these proposals by taking the radical
position that if the most revolutionary advance in technology,
commerce, and social discourse of the last century is not broken, as
you've heard others say, there's no reason to ``fix'' it.
The ability of the Internet to grow at this staggering pace is due
largely to the flexibility of the multistakeholder model that governs
the Internet so successfully today. Nongovernmental institutions now
manage the Internet's core functions with input from private and public
sector participants, and this structure prevents governmental or
nongovernmental actors from controlling the design of the network or
the content that it carries. Without one entity in control, the
Internet has become a driver of jobs, information, business expansion,
investment, and innovation. Moving away from the multistakeholder model
would harm these abilities, preventing the Internet from spreading
prosperity and the cause of freedom.
As the United States delegation continues its work at the WCIT, this
resolution is an excellent bipartisan demonstration of our Nation's
commitment to preserve the multistakeholder governance model and keep
the Internet free from international regulation. I encourage my
colleagues to support passage of this measure.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 4
minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), who is a member
of the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee.
Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlelady from
Tennessee for yielding and for her leadership on this issue.
As has been noted, right now, in Dubai, an arm of the United Nations
is considering trying to take international control over parts of the
Internet. If you look at the struggling economy we have right now in
the United States, one of the few bright spots is the
telecommunications industry. One of the reasons--as a computer science
major, I would argue that one of the reasons that the
telecommunications and technology industry has been so successful even
in a tough economy is because the government hasn't figured out how to
regulate it and slow it down.
And yet here you have a proposal by the United Nations, coming out of
the United Nations, to interfere with that multistakeholder
organization which has been and allowed this industry to be so
successful and allowed the Internet to shape and dramatically improve
so many people's lives. So many of the things we can do today and all
of the conveniences that have been added through great new aps and
great new technology have come from this multistakeholder governance of
the Internet. And yet here you have the United Nations try to step in.
And let's be real clear about who some of these countries are that
want to do this and what they're intending to do if they are
successful. Countries like Russia and China are leading this. Some of
the Arab nations right now where you see uprisings, and many of those
uprisings, by the way, have been brought through social media, through
an open and free Internet where people can come together in cyberspace
and hold their leadership accountable and in some cases rise up against
oppressive governments, and those governments would like nothing more
than to be able to shut that down by taking over control of the
Internet.
I know it's been brought up before by the gentlelady from Tennessee
and others, but I think it's important to know that Vladimir Putin,
when he was meeting with the ITU Secretary-General said his goal, the
reason that he and others like China are pursuing this, is to establish
international control over the Internet through these new ITU rules.
And so while these discussions are going on in Dubai, I think it's
critical that this piece of legislation is something we can arm our
supporters with, those who stand up for Internet freedom, to say it is
the United States Congress' bipartisan agreement that we want to
maintain that freedom. We don't want United Nations control over the
Internet.
{time} 1000
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers, and as I
close, I want to thank Ms. Eshoo for the leadership that she has given.
She's
[[Page H6646]]
the ranking member of the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee.
I also want to draw attention to the outstanding work that
Representative Mary Bono Mack did as she led the debate and the
discussion and pushed for the resolution, authored the resolution that
the House passed earlier on this very issue. I also want to thank her
for her work with Senator Rubio and having a resolution that would be
agreed to by both Chambers.
As Ms. Eshoo indicated earlier, the Senate resolution makes a
technical change, a small technical change, in the resolution that was
passed by the House. This is where the U.S. needs to stand firm. It's a
way that we, in a bipartisan manner, can stand firm for freedom. I
encourage the passage of this resolution; and I encourage that we, as a
body, will continue to stand for a free and open Internet.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) that the House suspend the
rules and concur in the concurrent resolution, S. Con. Res. 50.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
____________________