I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2271 

To prevent United States businesses from cooperating with repressive governments in transforming the Internet into a tool of censorship and surveillance, to fulfill the responsibility of the United States Government to 

promote freedom of expression on the Internet, to restore public confidence in the integrity of United States businesses, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2009 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. WOLF, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. ROHRABACHER, and Mr. MCCOTTER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To prevent United States businesses from cooperating with 

repressive governments in transforming the Internet into 

a tool of censorship and surveillance, to fulfill the responsibility of the United States Government to promote freedom of expression on the Internet, to restore public 

confidence in the integrity of United States businesses, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Global Online Freedom Act of 2009’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Severability. 

TITLE I—PROMOTION OF GLOBAL INTERNET FREEDOM 

Sec. 101. Statement of policy. 

Sec. 102. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 103. Annual country reports on human rights practices. 

Sec. 104. Office of Global Internet Freedom. 

Sec. 105. Annual designation of internet-restricting countries; report. 

TITLE II—MINIMUM CORPORATE STANDARDS FOR ONLINE 

FREEDOM 

Sec. 201. Protection of personally identifiable information. 

Sec. 202. Integrity of personally identifiable information. 

Sec. 203. Transparency regarding search engine filtering. 

Sec. 204. Transparency regarding internet censorship. 

Sec. 205. Protection of United States-supported online content. 

Sec. 206. Penalties. 

Sec. 207. Presidential waiver. 

TITLE III—EXPORT CONTROLS FOR INTERNET-RESTRICTING 

COUNTRIES 

Sec. 301. Feasibility study on establishment of export controls. 

Sec. 302. Report. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) A number of repressive foreign governments 

9 block, restrict, otherwise control, and monitor the 

10 Internet, effectively transforming the Internet into a 

11 tool of censorship and surveillance, in contravention 

12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political 

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1 Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human 

2 Rights. 

3 (2) A number of United States businesses have 

4 enabled the Internet censorship and surveillance of 

5 repressive governments by selling these governments 

6 or their agents technology or training. 

7 (3) A number of United States businesses have 

8 cooperated with the Internet censorship and surveil9 lance of repressive governments by providing such 

10 governments with information about cyber-dissidents 

11 who were the company’s clients or were using the 

12 companies’ products, and this has led to the arrest 

13 and imprisonment of the dissidents. 

14 (4) The actions of a number of United States 

15 businesses in cooperating with the efforts of repres16 sive governments to transform the Internet into a 

17 tool of censorship and surveillance have caused 

18 Internet users in the United States and in foreign 

19 countries to lose confidence in the integrity of 

20 United States businesses. 

21 (5) Information and communication technology 

22 companies are to be commended for cooperating with 

23 civil society organizations, academics, and investors 

24 in founding the Global Network Initiative, in order 

25 to provide direction and guidance to the Information 

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1 and Communications Technology companies and oth2 ers in protecting the free expression and privacy of 

3 Internet users. 

4 (6) The United States Government has a re5 sponsibility to protect freedom of expression on the 

6 Internet, to prevent United States businesses from 

7 directly and materially cooperating in human rights 

8 abuses perpetrated by repressive foreign govern9 ments, and to restore public confidence in the integ10 rity of United States business. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT14 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com15 mittees’’ means— 

16 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

17 Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com18 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

19 of Representatives; and 

20 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

21 the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com22 mittee on Commerce, Science and Transpor23 tation of the Senate. 

24 (2) ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND OTHER

25 TITLE 18 DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘electronic commstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 munication’’, ‘‘electronic communications system’’, 

2 ‘‘electronic storage’’, and ‘‘contents’’ have the mean3 ings given such terms in section 2510 of title 18, 

4 United States Code. 

5 (3) FOREIGN OFFICIAL.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘foreign offi7 cial’’ means— 

8 (i) any officer or employee of a for9 eign government or of any department, 

10 agency, state-owned enterprise, or instru11 mentality thereof; or 

12 (ii) any person acting in an official ca13 pacity for or on behalf of, or acting under 

14 color of law with the knowledge of, any 

15 such government or such department, 

16 agency, state-owned enterprise, or instru17 mentality. 

18 (B) STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISE.—For 

19 purposes of subparagraph (A), the term ‘‘state20 owned enterprise’’ means a commercial entity in 

21 which a foreign government owns or controls, 

22 directly or indirectly, more than 50 percent of 

23 the outstanding capital stock or other beneficial 

24 interest in such commercial entity. 

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1 (4) INTERNET.—The term ‘‘Internet’’ has the 

2 meaning given the term in section 231(e) of the 

3 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 231(e)). 

4 (5) INTERNET-RESTRICTING COUNTRY.—The 

5 term ‘‘Internet-restricting country’’ means a country 

6 designated by the Secretary of State pursuant to 

7 section 105(a) of this Act. 

8 (6) INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.— 

9 The term ‘‘Internet communications services’’— 

10 (A) means a method for providing commu11 nications services via the Internet, including 

12 electronic mail, Internet telephony, online chat, 

13 online text messaging, Internet bulletin boards, 

14 or Web pages; and 

15 (B)(i) includes providing Internet access; 

16 but 

17 (ii) does not include activities con18 ducted by a financial institution (as such 

19 term is defined in section 5312 of title 31, 

20 United States Code) that are financial in 

21 nature, even if such activities are con22 ducted using the Internet. 

23 (7) INTERNET CONTENT HOSTING SERVICE.— 

24 The terms ‘‘Internet content hosting service’’ and 

25 ‘‘content hosting service’’ mean a service that— 

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1 (A) stores, through electromagnetic or 

2 other means, electronic data, such as the con3 tent of Web pages, electronic mail, documents, 

4 images, audio and video files, online discussion 

5 boards, or Web logs; and 

6 (B) makes such data available via the 

7 Internet. 

8 (8) INTERNET JAMMING.—The term ‘‘Internet 

9 jamming’’ means jamming, censoring, blocking, 

10 monitoring, or restricting access to the Internet, or 

11 to content made available via the Internet, by using 

12 technologies such as firewalls, filters, and ‘‘black 

13 boxes’’. 

14 (9) INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE.—The term 

15 ‘‘Internet search engine’’ or ‘‘search engine’’ means 

16 a service made available via the Internet that, on the 

17 basis of a query consisting of terms, concepts, ques18 tions, or other data input by a user, searches infor19 mation available on the Internet and returns to the 

20 user a means, such as a hyperlinked list of Uniform 

21 Resource Identifiers, of locating, viewing, or 

22 downloading information or data available on the 

23 Internet relating to such query. 

24 (10) LEGITIMATE FOREIGN LAW ENFORCEMENT

25 PURPOSES.— 

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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘legitimate 

2 foreign law enforcement purpose’’ means for the 

3 purpose of enforcement, investigation, or pros4 ecution by a foreign official based on a publicly 

5 promulgated law of reasonable specificity that 

6 proximately relates to the protection or pro7 motion of the health, safety, or morals of the 

8 citizens of the jurisdiction of such official. 

9 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For pur10 poses of this Act, the control, suppression, or 

11 punishment of peaceful expression of political, 

12 religious, or ideological opinion or belief shall 

13 not be construed to constitute a legitimate for14 eign law enforcement purpose. Among expres15 sion that should be construed to be protected 

16 against control, suppression, or punishment 

17 when evaluating a foreign government’s claim 

18 of a legitimate foreign law enforcement purpose 

19 is expression protected by article 19 of the 

20 International Covenant on Civil and Political 

21 Rights. 

22 (11) LOCATE.—The term ‘‘locate’’ includes, 

23 with respect to an electronic communication— 

24 (A) computer storage or processing by fa25 cilities of a ‘‘remote computing service’’, as 

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1 such term is defined in section 2711 of title 18, 

2 United States Code; 

3 (B) electronic storage by any electronic or 

4 computer server or facility of an electronic com5 munications system; and 

6 (C) any other storage by any electronic or 

7 computer server or facility. 

8 (12) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA9 TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifiable informa10 tion’’— 

11 (A) includes any information described in 

12 section 2703(c)(2) of title 18, United States 

13 Code; and 

14 (B) does not include— 

15 (i) any traffic data; or 

16 (ii) any record of aggregate data 

17 which cannot be used to identify particular 

18 persons. 

19 (13) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

20 USED TO ESTABLISH OR MAINTAIN AN ACCOUNT.— 

21 The term ‘‘personally identifiable information used 

22 to establish or maintain an account’’ does not in23 clude— 

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1 (A) information collected in the course of 

2 establishing or operating accounts for commu3 nications within a company; 

4 (B) information collected in the course of 

5 the purchase, sale, shipment, or distribution of 

6 goods, including transactions for goods or serv7 ices utilizing the Internet, other than commu8 nication services on which a political, religious, 

9 or ideological opinion or belief may be ex10 pressed; 

11 (C) personally identifiable information vol12 unteered in an electronic communication, other 

13 than in a communication made in the course of 

14 establishing an account for Internet commu15 nications services, such as an electronic mail 

16 signature line or an electronic mail, on-line 

17 video, or Web page in which the author volun18 tarily provides personally identifiable informa19 tion; or 

20 (D) with respect to the collection of per21 sonally identifiable information required in 

22 order to provide Internet communications serv23 ices, information that is located in an Internet24 restricting country temporarily at the time of 

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1 establishing an account for Internet commu2 nications services, if— 

3 (i) a system exists that promptly 

4 transfers such information to another loca5 tion outside of any Internet-restricting 

6 country; 

7 (ii) no duplicates of such information 

8 remain in any Internet-restricting country 

9 after such transfer; and 

10 (iii) no transfers occur that violate 

11 section 202. 

12 (14) SUBSTANTIAL RESTRICTIONS ON INTER13 NET FREEDOM.—The term ‘‘substantial restrictions 

14 on Internet freedom’’ means actions that restrict or 

15 punish the free availability of information via the 

16 Internet for reasons other than legitimate foreign 

17 law enforcement purposes, including— 

18 (A) deliberately blocking, filtering, or cen19 soring information available via the Internet 

20 based on the expression of political, religious, or 

21 ideological opinion or belief, including by elec22 tronic mail; or 

23 (B) persecuting, prosecuting, or otherwise 

24 punishing an individual or group for posting or 

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1 ological opinion or belief via the Internet, in2 cluding by electronic mail. 

3 (15) TRAFFIC DATA.—The term ‘‘traffic data’’ 

4 means, with respect to an electronic communication, 

5 any information contained in or relating to such 

6 communication that is processed for the purpose of 

7 the conveyance of the communication by an elec8 tronic communications system or for the billing 

9 thereof, including any Internet Protocol address or 

10 other means of identifying a location within an elec11 tronic communications system, but that cannot be 

12 used to identify a particular person. Such term can13 not be used to include the contents of any electronic 

14 communication. 

15 (16) UNITED STATES BUSINESS.—The term 

16 ‘‘United States business’’ means— 

17 (A) any corporation, partnership, associa18 tion, joint-stock company, business trust, unin19 corporated organization, or sole proprietorship 

20 that— 

21 (i) has its principal place of business 

22 in the United States; or 

23 (ii) is organized under the laws of a 

24 State of the United States or a territory, 

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1 possession, or commonwealth of the United 

2 States; and 

3 (B) any issuer of a security registered pur4 suant to section 12 of the Securities Exchange 

5 Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l). 

6 (17) UNITED STATES-SUPPORTED CONTENT.— 

7 The term ‘‘United States-supported content’’ means 

8 content that is created or developed, in whole or in 

9 part, by a United States-supported information enti10 ty. 

11 (18) UNITED STATES-SUPPORTED INFORMA12 TION ENTITY.—The term ‘‘United States-supported 

13 information entity’’ means— 

14 (A) any authority of the Government of 

15 the United States; and 

16 (B) any entity that— 

17 (i) receives grants from the Broad18 casting Board of Governors to carry out 

19 international broadcasting activities in ac20 cordance with the United States Inter21 national Broadcasting Act of 1994 (title 

22 III of Public Law 103–236; 22 U.S.C. 

23 6201 et seq.); 

24 (ii) exists within the Broadcasting 

25 Board of Governors and carries out nonmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 military international broadcasting activi2 ties supported by the Government of the 

3 United States in accordance with such Act; 

4 or 

5 (iii) receives grants or other similar 

6 funding from the Government of the 

7 United States to carry out any information 

8 dissemination activities. 

9 (19) UNITED STATES-SUPPORTED WEB SITE.— 

10 The term ‘‘United States-supported Web site’’ 

11 means a location on the World Wide Web that is 

12 owned or managed by, or is registered to, a United 

13 States-supported information entity. 

14 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 

15 If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 

16 provision to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, 

17 the remainder of this Act, and the application of such pro18 vision to other persons not similarly situated or to other 

19 circumstances, shall not be affected by such invalidation. 

20 TITLE I—PROMOTION OF 

21 GLOBAL INTERNET FREEDOM 

22 SEC. 101. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

23 It shall be the policy of the United States— 

24 (1) to promote as a fundamental component of 

25 United States foreign policy the right of every indimstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 vidual to freedom of opinion and expression, includ2 ing the right to hold opinions, and to seek, receive, 

3 and impart information and ideas through any 

4 media and regardless of frontiers, without inter5 ference; 

6 (2) to use all appropriate instruments of United 

7 States influence, including diplomacy, trade policy, 

8 and export controls, to support, promote, and 

9 strengthen principles, practices, and values that pro10 mote the free flow of information without inter11 ference or discrimination, including through the 

12 Internet and other electronic media; and 

13 (3) to deter any United States business from 

14 cooperating with officials of Internet-restricting 

15 countries in effecting the political censorship of on16 line content. 

17 SEC. 102. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

18 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

19 (1) the President should, through bilateral, and 

20 where appropriate, multilateral activities, seek to ob21 tain the agreement of other countries to promote the 

22 goals and objectives of this Act and to protect Inter23 net freedom; and 

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1 (2) to the extent that a United States business 

2 empowers or assists an authoritarian foreign govern3 ment in its efforts— 

4 (A) to restrict online access to the Web 

5 sites of the Voice of America, Radio Free Eu6 rope/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Al-Hurra, 

7 Radio Sawa, Radio Farda, Radio Marti, TV 

8 Marti, or other United States-supported Web 

9 sites and online access to United States Govern10 ment reports such as the Annual Country Re11 ports on Human Rights Practices, the Annual 

12 Reports on International Religious Freedom, 

13 and the Annual Trafficking in Human Persons 

14 Reports, or 

15 (B) to identify individual Internet users, 

16 such business is working contrary to the foreign pol17 icy interests of the United States and is undercut18 ting United States taxpayer-funded efforts to pro19 mote freedom of information for all people, including 

20 those in undemocratic and repressive societies. 

21 SEC. 103. ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS 

22 PRACTICES. 

23 (a) REPORT RELATING TO ECONOMIC ASSIST24 ANCE.—Section 116 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

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1 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n) is amended by adding at the end 

2 the following new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(g)(1) The report required by subsection (d) shall 

4 include an assessment of the freedom of electronic infor5 mation in each foreign country. Such assessment shall 

6 consist of the following: 

7 ‘‘(A) An assessment of the general extent 

8 to which Internet access is available to and 

9 used by citizens in that country. 

10 ‘‘(B) An assessment of the extent to which 

11 government authorities in that country attempt 

12 to filter, censor, or otherwise block Internet 

13 content, as well as a description of the means 

14 by which they attempt to block such content. 

15 ‘‘(C) A description of known instances in 

16 which government authorities in that country 

17 have persecuted, prosecuted, or otherwise pun18 ished an individual or group for the peaceful ex19 pression of political, religious, or ideological 

20 opinion or belief via the Internet, including elec21 tronic mail. 

22 ‘‘(D) A description of known instances in 

23 which government authorities in that country 

24 have sought to collect, request, obtain, or dis25 close the personally identifiable information of a 

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1 person in connection with that person’s peaceful 

2 expression of political, religious, or ideological 

3 opinion or belief, including without limitation 

4 communication that would be protected by the 

5 International Covenant on Civil and Political 

6 Rights. 

7 ‘‘(2) In compiling data and making assessments 

8 for the purposes of paragraph (1), United States 

9 diplomatic mission personnel shall consult with 

10 human rights organizations, technology and Internet 

11 companies, and other appropriate nongovernmental 

12 organizations.’’. 

13 (b) REPORT RELATING TO SECURITY ASSISTANCE.— 

14 Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

15 U.S.C. 2304) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(i)(1) The report required by subsection (b) shall in18 clude an assessment of the freedom of electronic informa19 tion in each foreign country. Such assessment shall consist 

20 of the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) An assessment of the general extent 

22 to which Internet access is available to and 

23 used by citizens in that country. 

24 ‘‘(B) An assessment of the extent to which 

25 government authorities in that country attempt 

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1 to filter, censor, or otherwise block Internet 

2 content, as well as a description of the means 

3 by which they attempt to block such content. 

4 ‘‘(C) A description of known instances in 

5 which government authorities in that country 

6 have persecuted, prosecuted, or otherwise pun7 ished an individual or group for the peaceful ex8 pression of political, religious, or ideological 

9 opinion or belief via the Internet, including elec10 tronic mail. 

11 ‘‘(D) A description of known instances in 

12 which government authorities in that country 

13 have sought to collect, request, obtain, or dis14 close the personally identifiable information of a 

15 person in connection with that person’s commu16 nication of ideas, facts, or views where such 

17 communication would be protected by the Inter18 national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 

19 ‘‘(2) In compiling data and making assessments 

20 for the purposes of paragraph (1), United States 

21 diplomatic mission personnel shall consult with 

22 human rights organizations, technology and Internet 

23 companies, and other appropriate nongovernmental 

24 organizations.’’. 

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1 SEC. 104. OFFICE OF GLOBAL INTERNET FREEDOM. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

3 Department of State the Office of Global Internet Free4 dom (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). The head 

5 of the Office shall be a Director, who shall be appointed 

6 by the Secretary of State. 

7 (b) DUTIES.—In addition to such other responsibil8 ities as the President may assign, the Office shall— 

9 (1) serve as the focal point for interagency ef10 forts to protect and promote abroad freedom of elec11 tronic information related to expression of political, 

12 religious, or ideological opinion or belief; 

13 (2) develop and ensure the implementation of a 

14 global strategy and programs to combat state-spon15 sored and state-directed Internet jamming of com16 munications that express political, religious, or ideo17 logical opinion or belief and to combat the intimida18 tion and persecution by foreign governments of their 

19 citizens who use the Internet for the peaceful expres20 sion of such opinion or belief; 

21 (3) provide assistance to the Secretary of State 

22 in connection with the annual designation of Inter23 net-restricting countries required by section 105(a) 

24 of this Act; 

25 (4) beginning not later than 180 days after the 

26 date of the enactment of this Act— 

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1 (A) identify key words, terms, and phrases 

2 relating to human rights, democracy, religious 

3 free exercise, and peaceful political dissent, both 

4 in general and as specifically related to the par5 ticular context and circumstances of each Inter6 net-restricting country; and 

7 (B) maintain, update, and make publicly 

8 available on a regular basis the key words, 

9 terms, and phrases identified pursuant to sub10 paragraph (A); 

11 (5) establish mechanisms to collect the informa12 tion required to be reported by sections 116(g) and 

13 502B(i) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (as 

14 added by section 103 of this Act) and sections 203 

15 and 204 of this Act; 

16 (6) establish a regularized consultative process 

17 with regard to the control, suppression, or punish18 ment of peaceful expression of political, religious, or 

19 ideological opinion or belief with appropriate tech20 nology companies involved in providing, maintaining, 

21 or servicing the Internet, human rights organiza22 tions, academic experts, and others to develop a vol23 untary code of minimum corporate standards related 

24 to Internet freedom, and to consult with such com25 panies, organizations, experts, and others regarding 

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1 new technologies and the implementation of appro2 priate policies relating to such technologies; and 

3 (7) advise the appropriate congressional com4 mittees of legislative action that may be necessary to 

5 keep the provisions of this Act and the amendments 

6 made by this Act relevant to changing technologies. 

7 (c) COOPERATION OF OTHER FEDERAL DEPART8 MENTS AND AGENCIES.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each depart10 ment and agency of the United States, including the 

11 Department of Commerce, the Office of the United 

12 States Trade Representative, the Department of 

13 Justice, the International Broadcasting Bureau, and 

14 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 

15 shall, as appropriate, cooperate with and assist the 

16 Office of Global Internet Freedom in the implemen17 tation of its duties, including the strategy developed 

18 by the Office under subsection (b)(2). 

19 (2) COORDINATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF

20 COMMERCE.—Notwithstanding the requirements of 

21 paragraph (1), the head of the Office shall fully co22 ordinate its activities with those of the National 

23 Telecommunications and Information Administration 

24 of the Department of Commerce and the Assistant 

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1 Secretary of Commerce for Communications and In2 formation. 

3 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to the Office to carry 

5 out this section such sums as may be necessary for each 

6 of the fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

7 (e) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall 

8 supercede the requirements of the National Telecommuni9 cations and Information Administration Organization Act 

10 (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) or affect the responsibilities of 

11 the National Telecommunications and Information Ad12 ministration of the Department of Commerce and the As13 sistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 

14 Information established by such Act and amendments to 

15 such Act. 

16 SEC. 105. ANNUAL DESIGNATION OF INTERNET-RESTRICT17 ING COUNTRIES; REPORT. 

18 (a) DESIGNATION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an21 nually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall des22 ignate Internet-restricting countries for purposes of 

23 this Act. 

24 (2) STANDARD.—A foreign country shall be 

25 designated as an Internet-restricting country if the 

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1 Secretary of State, after consultation with the Sec2 retary of Commerce, determines, based on the review 

3 of the evidence and any ongoing multilateral discus4 sions on freedom of speech and the right to privacy, 

5 that the government of the country is directly or in6 directly responsible for a systematic pattern of sub7 stantial restrictions on Internet freedom during any 

8 part of the preceding 1-year period. 

9 (b) REPORT.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an12 nually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall trans13 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

14 report that contains the following: 

15 (A) The name of each foreign country that 

16 at the time of the transmission of the report is 

17 designated as an Internet-restricting country 

18 under subsection (a). 

19 (B) An identification of each government 

20 agency and quasi-government organization re21 sponsible for the substantial restrictions on 

22 Internet freedom in each foreign country des23 ignated as an Internet-restricting country under 

24 subsection (a). 

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1 (C) A description of efforts by the United 

2 States to counter the substantial restrictions on 

3 Internet freedom referred to in subparagraph 

4 (B). 

5 (D) A description of the evidence used by 

6 the Secretary of State to make the determina7 tions under subsection (a)(2) and any ongoing 

8 multilateral discussions on freedom of speech 

9 and the right to privacy referred to in such sub10 section. 

11 (2) FORM.—The information required by para12 graph (1)(C) of the report may be provided in a 

13 classified form if necessary. 

14 (3) INTERNET AVAILABILITY.—All unclassified 

15 portions of the report shall be made publicly avail16 able on the Internet Web site of the Department of 

17 State. 

18 TITLE II—MINIMUM CORPORATE 

19 STANDARDS FOR ONLINE 

20 FREEDOM 

21 SEC. 201. PROTECTION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN22 FORMATION. 

23 (a) LOCATION OF INFORMATION IN INTERNET-RE24 STRICTING COUNTRIES.—A United States business that 

25 creates, provides, or offers to the public for commercial 

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1 purposes an Internet search engine or that offers to the 

2 public for commercial purposes Internet communications 

3 services or Internet content hosting services may not lo4 cate, within an Internet-restricting country, any electronic 

5 communication containing personally identifiable informa6 tion used to establish or maintain an account for Internet 

7 communications services. 

8 (b) WAIVER.—Subject to subsection (c), the Sec9 retary of State may waive the application of any of the 

10 provisions of subsection (a) with respect to a United 

11 States business or an Internet-restricting country, if the 

12 Secretary of State determines and so reports to the appro13 priate congressional committees that— 

14 (1) the government of the country has ceased 

15 the activities that gave rise to the designation of the 

16 country as an Internet-restricting country; 

17 (2) the laws of the Internet-restricting country 

18 require the United States business that creates, pro19 vides, or offers to the public for commercial purposes 

20 an Internet search engine or that offers to the public 

21 for commercial purposes Internet communications 

22 services or Internet content hosting services to locate 

23 within the country electronic communications con24 taining personally identifiable information used to 

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1 establish or maintain an account for Internet com2 munications services; or 

3 (3) the national interest of the United States 

4 requires the exercise of such waiver authority. 

5 (c) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 

6 the date of the exercise of a waiver under subsection (b), 

7 the Secretary of State shall notify the appropriate con8 gressional committees of the waiver or the intention to ex9 ercise the waiver, together with a detailed explanation of 

10 the reason for the waiver. 

11 SEC. 202. INTEGRITY OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN12 FORMATION. 

13 (a) USER PROTECTION.—If a United States business 

14 collects or obtains personally identifiable information 

15 through the provision of products or services on the Inter16 net, such business shall— 

17 (1) devise and maintain a system of internal 

18 policies and procedures which set out how the 

19 United States business will assess and respond to re20 quests by Internet-restricting countries for disclo21 sure of personally identifiable information, sufficient 

22 to provide reasonable assurances that— 

23 (A) responses to such requests are exe24 cuted in accordance with the specific authoriza25 tion of the United States business; and 

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1 (B) responses to such requests are docu2 mented to include the exact words or nature of 

3 each such request, the information requested, 

4 circumstances relevant to determining how to 

5 respond to the request, communications with of6 ficials of the Internet-restricting country, and 

7 communications with the United States Govern8 ment regarding the request or the response to 

9 the request; and 

10 (2) make and keep records that, in reasonable 

11 detail, accurately document all requests by Internet12 restricting countries for disclosure of personally 

13 identifiable information, as well as how the United 

14 States business has assessed and responded to such 

15 requests, including the exact words or nature of each 

16 such request, the information requested, cir17 cumstances relevant to determining how to respond 

18 to the request, and communications with officials of 

19 the Internet-restricting country and communications 

20 with the United States Government regarding the 

21 request or the response to the request. 

22 (b) NOTIFICATION OF UNITED STATES GOVERN23 MENT OF INTERNAL POLICIES AND RECORD-KEEPING.— 

24 Within 90 days after a foreign country is designated as 

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1 ness that collects or obtains personally identifiable infor2 mation through the provision of products or services on 

3 the Internet in the Internet-restricting country shall trans4 mit to the Director of the Office of Global Internet Free5 dom a full account of its internal policies and procedures 

6 and its record-keeping practices instituted and undertaken 

7 in compliance with subsection (a). 

8 (c) NOTIFICATION OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

9 OF REQUEST FOR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA10 TION BY INTERNET-RESTRICTING COUNTRY.—If an 

11 Internet-restricting country requests personally identifi12 able information from a United States business that col13 lects or obtains personally identifiable information through 

14 the provision of products or services on the Internet in 

15 that Internet-restricting country, that United States busi16 ness shall promptly, and before responding to the request, 

17 inform the Director of the Office of Global Internet Free18 dom and the Attorney General of the exact words or na19 ture of the request, the circumstances relevant to deter20 mining how to respond to the request, and relevant com21 munications with officials of the Internet-restricting coun22 try. 

23 (d) ORDER NOT TO COMPLY WITH REQUEST.—If 

24 the Attorney General determines that there is a reasonable 

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1 quested of a United States business that collects or ob2 tains personally identifiable information through the pro3 vision of products or services on the Internet such infor4 mation for other than legitimate law enforcement pur5 poses, the Attorney General may issue an order to the 

6 United States business that it shall not comply with the 

7 request. 

8 (e) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Any person ag9 grieved by a violation of subsection (a) or (c), or by a vio10 lation of an order issued under subsection (d), may bring 

11 in the appropriate United States district court an action 

12 against the United States business that committed the vio13 lation for damages, including punitive damages, or other 

14 appropriate relief, without regard to the amount in con15 troversy, and without regard to the citizenship of the par16 ties. 

17 SEC. 203. TRANSPARENCY REGARDING SEARCH ENGINE 

18 FILTERING. 

19 Any United States business that creates, provides, or 

20 hosts an Internet search engine shall provide the Director 

21 of the Office of Global Internet Freedom, in a format and 

22 with a frequency to be specified by the Director, with all 

23 terms and parameters used to filter, limit, or otherwise 

24 affect the results provided by the search engine that are 

25 implemented— 

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1 (1) at the request of, or by reason of any other 

2 direct or indirect communication by, any foreign of3 ficial of an Internet-restricting country; or 

4 (2) to comply with a policy or practice of re5 strictions on Internet freedom in an Internet-re6 stricting country. 

7 SEC. 204. TRANSPARENCY REGARDING INTERNET CENSOR8 SHIP. 

9 (a) PROVISION OF URLS.—Any United States busi10 ness that maintains an Internet content hosting service 

11 shall provide the Director of the Office of Global Internet 

12 Freedom, in a format and with a frequency to be specified 

13 by the Office, with the Uniform Resource Locators 

14 (URLs) of all data and content that such business has, 

15 under the circumstances set forth in subsection (b)— 

16 (1) removed from the Internet content hosting 

17 service of such business; 

18 (2) blocked from availability on the Internet; or 

19 (3) blocked from transmission via the Internet 

20 into or within an Internet-restricting country. 

21 (b) CIRCUMSTANCES.—The circumstances referred to 

22 in subsection (a) are that the United States business took 

23 the action under subsection (a)— 

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1 (1) at the request of, or by reason of any other 

2 direct or indirect communication by, any foreign of3 ficial of an Internet-restricting country; or 

4 (2) in order to comply with a policy or practice 

5 of restrictions on Internet freedom in an Internet-re6 stricting country. 

7 SEC. 205. PROTECTION OF UNITED STATES-SUPPORTED ON8 LINE CONTENT. 

9 A United States business that maintains an Internet 

10 content hosting service may not conduct Internet jamming 

11 of a United States-supported Web site or United States12 supported content in an Internet-restricting country. 

13 SEC. 206. PENALTIES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any United States business that 

15 violates this title or any order issued under section 202(d) 

16 shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than 

17 $2,000,000 imposed in an action brought by the Attorney 

18 General. 

19 (b) LIABILITY OF UNITED STATES BUSINESSES FOR

20 ACTS OF FOREIGN ENTITIES.—A United States business 

21 shall be subject to the penalties under subsection (a) for 

22 the acts carried out by a foreign entity that would be a 

23 violation under this Act if engaged in by a United States 

24 business, if the United States business— 

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1 (1) controls a controlling interest in the voting 

2 shares or other equity securities of the foreign enti3 ty; 

4 (2) authorizes, directs, controls, or participates 

5 in the acts by the foreign entity; or 

6 (3) authorizes, in whole or in part, by license or 

7 otherwise, the foreign entity to use the trade name 

8 of the United States business in connection with 

9 goods or services provided by the foreign entity. 

10 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR KNOWING VIOLA11 TIONS.—Whoever knowingly provides to a foreign official 

12 of an Internet-restricting country information in violation 

13 of an order issued under section 202(d), knowing that so 

14 providing such information will further a policy on the 

15 part of the government of such country of prosecuting, 

16 persecuting, or otherwise punishing individuals or groups 

17 on account of the peaceful expression of political, religious, 

18 or ideological opinion or belief, and with the result that 

19 so providing such information leads to the death, torture, 

20 serious bodily injury, disappearance, or detention of any 

21 individual on such account, shall be fined under title 18, 

22 United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, 

23 or both. 

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1 SEC. 207. PRESIDENTIAL WAIVER. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), the 

3 President may waive the application of any of the provi4 sions of sections 201 through 205 with respect to a United 

5 States business or an Internet-restricting country, if the 

6 President determines and so reports to the appropriate 

7 congressional committees that— 

8 (1) the government of the country has ceased 

9 the activities giving rise to the designation of the 

10 country as an Internet-restricting country; 

11 (2) the exercise of such waiver authority would 

12 further the purposes of this Act; or 

13 (3) the national interest of the United States 

14 requires the exercise of such waiver authority. 

15 (b) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 

16 the date of the exercise of a waiver under subsection (a), 

17 the President shall notify the appropriate congressional 

18 committees of the waiver or the intention to exercise the 

19 waiver, together with a detailed justification for the waiv20 er. 

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1 TITLE III—EXPORT CONTROLS 

2 FOR INTERNET-RESTRICTING 

3 COUNTRIES 

4 SEC. 301. FEASIBILITY STUDY ON ESTABLISHMENT OF EX5 PORT CONTROLS. 

6 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, in consulta8 tion with the Secretary of State, shall complete a feasi9 bility study and make recommendations regarding the de10 velopment of export controls and export license require11 ments with respect to the export of any item subject to 

12 sections 730 through 774 of title 15, Code of Federal Reg13 ulations (commonly known as the ‘‘Export Administration 

14 Regulations’’) to an end user in an Internet-restricting 

15 country for the purpose, in whole or in part, of facilitating 

16 substantial restrictions on Internet freedom. 

17 SEC. 302. REPORT. 

18 Not later than 30 days after the end of the 180-day 

19 period described in section 301, the Secretary of Com20 merce, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall 

21 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re22 port describing the actions taken to carry out section 301. 

Æ 

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