Lawmakers Urge Action On Net Freedom Bill
After Google announced earlier this week that it may pull its operations out of China, a group of House members called on Congress Thursday to pass legislation that supporters say would give information technology companies like Google cover under U.S. law to allow them to resist efforts by foreign governments to censor their operations in those countries.
"We do believe that what Google has done is the game changer," Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., sponsor of the Global Online Freedom Act, said at a news conference. He and other lawmakers, as well as human rights activists and two Chinese dissidents, praised Google for standing up to China.
The U.S. Internet firm revealed earlier this week that it had been the victim of a cyber attack originating from China late last year that attempted to gain access to the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, as well as corporate data. In response, Google announced it would no longer censor its search results for users in China and may end its operations in the country altogether. Chinese officials said Thursday that they expect Web companies operating in the country to adhere to China's censorship rules, the Associated Press reported.
Smith and the other U.S. lawmakers urged other information technology companies to join Google's example. They also called on the State Department to use funding Congress has appropriated to support Internet freedom around the world to fund efforts to defeat China's Internet firewall, which blocks information opposed by the government.
Smith said his legislation, which the House has yet to consider, would require the State Department to release an annual list of countries designated as "Internet-restricting countries," require U.S. firms to notify U.S. officials of requests from foreign governments to filter or censor information, and would prohibit U.S. Internet firms from jamming U.S.-government Web sites such as the Voice of America. In addition such firms would be required to store personally identifiable information outside of countries that impose Internet restrictions. "The bill would give the IT companies the back-up of the U.S. government," Smith said.
In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this week that Google "is to be commended for taking action in response to cyber attacks originating from China targeting Chinese human rights advocates, and the intellectual property and corporate data of Google and more than 30 other companies." She added that it "should serve as an example to businesses and governments."
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