This bill, currently pending in the U.S. House of Representatives, would essentially hold U.S. companies accountable for working with the governments of “Internet-restricting countries” to violate citizens’ Internet freedoms.

The megacorporations are not happy. The Interactive Advertising Bureau - which counts AOL, AT&T, Fox News, Google, Reuters, Time Inc., and Yahoo! Inc. among its members - posted a letter to House Speaker Pelosi (PDF) signed by the IAB and about two dozen other business organizations. The letter claims that H.R. 275 would interfere with legitimate U.S. business operations overseas.

No doubt they are correct. But in 2004, Yahoo! Inc., an American corporation, aided the Chinese government in arresting the peaceful activist Shi Tao, who was attempting to spread his message through e-mail. This is an outrage. The United States should not turn a blind eye to such things; if it does, it will become yet another party to the suppression of free speech online. Conversely, if the bill becomes law, foreign governments will have a much harder time pressuring businesses to block Internet content, turn over private user information, and so forth.

Overall, I believe H.R. 275 will do more good than harm. Please contact your representatives and encourage them to support this bill.

Links

• Press release about H.R. 275 from Chris Smith (R-NJ), sponsor of the bill
• H.R. 275 at OpenCongress - track the progress of the bill; find out which representatives are sponsoring it, and which committees are considering it.

Tags: internet, politics //