European Lawmaker To Offer Web Freedom Bill
A member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands has announced plans to introduce legislation this week modeled after a bill introduced this Congress by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., Smith said the proposals are, "a historic partnering, the quintessential example of transatlantic cooperation" and are "absolutely necessary to end -- or at least mitigate -- the complicity of [tech] companies with dictatorships like China."
During a media event, hosted by human rights organization Freedom House, EU MP Jules Maaten, the sponsor of the EU version of the legislation, called the parallel initiative a "collaborative effort to increase Internet freedom." Both bills would prohibit Internet firms from cooperating with repressive regimes that restrict Web speech and use personally identifiable information to track down and punish democracy activists.
Reporters Without Borders lauded the European effort, saying that "online freedom is not just threatened by Yahoo’s cooperation with the Chinese authorities. Some European companies are also the accomplices of online censors." Telecom Italia, for example, owns part of the Cuban telecommunications company ETECSA, the only ISP available in Cuba, the group said. The French ISP Orange is involved in China, Vietnam and Egypt, which are all on the watchdog's list of "Internet Enemies."
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