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[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 116 (Wednesday, August 1, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5599-H5602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

       EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS ON GOVERNANCE OF THE INTERNET

  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 127) 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:

                            H. Con. Res. 127

       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 justify under 
     international law increased government control over the 
     Internet and would reject 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, contrary to international law;
       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 House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the 
     Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
     Information, in consultation with the Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary of State and United States Coordinator for 
     International Communications and Information Policy, 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 gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Walden) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon.

                             General Leave

  Mr. WALDEN. 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 materials into the Record on H. Con. Res. 127.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oregon?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 127, a 
resolution that opposes international regulation of the Internet.
  The resolution was introduced by Mrs. Bono Mack in May and passed the 
House Committee on Energy and Commerce with bipartisan support from 
more than 60 Members, including Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman 
Upton, Ranking Member Waxman, and my colleague on the Communications 
and Technology Subcommittee, Ranking Member Eshoo. I, too, am pleased 
to be an original cosponsor of this important resolution.
  Nations from across the globe will meet in December for the World 
Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai. There, the 193 
member countries of the United Nations will consider whether to apply 
to the Internet a regulatory regime that the International 
Telecommunications Union created for old-fashioned telephone service, 
as well as whether to swallow the Internet's nongovernmental 
organization's structure whole and make it part of the United Nations. 
Neither of these are acceptable outcomes.
  Now, among those that are supportive of such regulation is Russian 
President Vladimir Putin, who spoke positively about the idea of 
``establishing international control over the Internet.'' Some 
countries have even proposed regulations that would allow them to read 
citizens' email in the name of security. H. Con. Res. 127 rejects these 
proposals by taking the radical position that if the most revolutionary 
advance in technology, commerce, and social discourse of the last 
century isn't broken, well, we shouldn't be trying to fix it.
  The Internet is the greatest vehicle for global progress and 
improvement since the printing press; and despite the current economic 
climate, the Internet continues to grow at an astonishing pace. Cisco 
estimates that by 2016 roughly 45 percent of the world's population 
will be Internet users, there will be more than 18.9 billion network 
connections, and the average speed of mobile broadband will be four 
times faster than it is today.
  The ability of the Internet to grow at this staggering pace is due 
largely to the flexibility of the multi-stakeholder approach that 
governs the Internet today. Nongovernmental institutions now manage the 
Internet's core functions, with input from private and public sector 
participants. This structure prevents governmental or nongovernmental 
actors from controlling the design of the network or the content that 
it carries.

                              {time}  1840

  Without one entity in control, the Internet has become a driver of 
jobs and information, business expansion, investment and, indeed, 
innovation. Now, moving away from that multistakeholder model, Mr. 
Speaker, would harm these abilities and would prevent the Internet from 
spreading prosperity and freedom.

[[Page H5600]]

  In May, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology invited a 
panel of witnesses, including Federal Communications Commissioner 
Robert McDowell, to discuss the effects an international regulatory 
regime would have on the Internet. All agreed that such a regime would 
not only endanger the Internet, but would endanger global development 
on a much larger scale. House Concurrent Resolution 127 expresses the 
commitment of Congress to do all that it can to keep the Internet free 
from an international regulatory regime.
  I'm pleased to report that earlier today, Ambassador Kramer, the 
leader of the U.S. delegation to the WCIT, gave a speech outlining the 
position of the United States that seems to be embracing the very 
principles contained in this resolution. Now, my hope is that the 
administration stays on this very course.
  As the U.S. delegation continues to work in advance of the WCIT, 
House Concurrent Resolution 127 is an excellent bipartisan 
demonstration of our Nation's commitment to preserve the 
multistakeholder governance model and to keep the Internet free from 
international regulation. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce 
strongly supports House Concurrent Resolution 127, and I urge the rest 
of my colleagues in the House to join us.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I'm very pleased to join with all of my colleagues. This is an 
unusual happening on the floor, and I hope there are lots of people 
tuned in from C-SPAN listening and watching, because it is one of the 
few times that we've come together in a true bipartisan, 100 percent 
bipartisan way.
  I want to pay tribute to the gentlewoman from California, 
Representative Bono Mack, for her leadership on this. And I'm very, 
very pleased to join her and all of the members of the Energy and 
Commerce Committee on H. Con. Res. 127.
  As I said, this is bipartisan and it's bicameral, and it demonstrates 
the bipartisan commitment of the Congress to preserve the open 
structure and multistakeholder approach that has guided the Internet 
over the past two decades.
  The distinguished chairman of our subcommittee said that he hopes the 
administration will remain on this. The administration was there before 
the Congress took action. There is no light between the administration, 
the executive branch, the Senate or the House, and that's the way it 
should be.
  Through this open and transparent structure, Mr. Speaker, the 
Internet has literally transformed into a platform supporting thousands 
of innovative companies, applications, and services, not just in the 
United States, but in communities around the world.
  I'm very, very proud, because my congressional district is very much 
a part of Silicon Valley, and many of these companies helped to launch 
these innovations. In fact, since 1995--this is really stunning--
venture capital funds have invested approximately $250 billion--with a 
B, dollars--in industries reliant on an open Internet, including $91.8 
billion on software alone.
  But later this year, the World Conference on International 
Telecommunications--at the committee, we call it WCIT, that's a lot 
easier--will take up proposals that represent a really fundamental 
departure from the International Telecommunications Regulations adopted 
in 1988. Nearly 25 years ago, this treaty provided a framework for how 
telecommunications traffic is handled among countries, but much has 
changed since that time.

  In addition to proposing new regulations on broadband services, 
several nations, including Russia, are set on asserting 
intergovernmental control over the Internet, leading to a balkanized 
Internet where censorship could become the new norm. While there's no 
question that nations have to work together to address challenges to 
the Internet's growth and stability, such as cybersecurity, online 
privacy, and intellectual property protection, these issues can best be 
addressed under the existing model.
  It's absolutely essential that the United States defend the current 
model of Internet governance at the upcoming Dubai conference this 
December because the very fabric of the free and open Internet is at 
stake.
  So I urge all of my colleagues to support this bipartisan resolution 
which reflects, as I said a few months ago, a viewpoint already shared 
by the Obama administration, the Federal Communications Commission, and 
the U.S. delegation to the WCIT, and unite in opposition to proposals 
that threaten the innovation, openness, and transparency enjoyed by 
Internet users around the world.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALDEN. I'm now honored to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman 
from California (Mrs. Bono Mack), the sponsor of this legislation, the 
chairman of the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee of the 
Energy and Commerce Committee, and a very active and effective member 
of the subcommittee I chair, the Communications and Technology 
Subcommittee, who has put a lot of time into making sure the Internet 
remains free and open. This is her resolution. We thank her for her 
work.
  Mrs. BONO MACK. Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear colleague for yielding 
me the time.
  Today, if you browse the Internet and enter the search words 
``Russia, China, human rights violations,'' you'll get back nearly 300 
million hits. Think about it. Five simple words, 300 million hits.
  In the future, how many of these stories will you actually be able to 
read if Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Communist Party 
are allowed to exert unprecedented control over Internet governance?
  Here are two words you should Google: ``Good luck.''
  As the United States prepares to take part in the World Conference on 
International Telecommunications in Dubai, we need to provide the 
delegation with a clear and unmistakable mandate: Keep the Internet 
free of any and all government control.
  At the WCIT discussions, a new treaty on Internet governance will be 
debated. Most worrisome to me are efforts by some countries to provide 
the U.N. with extraordinary new authority over the management of the 
Internet.
  That's bad enough. But unlike the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. 
will not have veto power to prevent censorship or despotic actions 
which could threaten freedom everywhere. To prevent this from 
happening, I introduced House Concurrent Resolution 127.
  I want to thank my cosponsors, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman 
Upton, Ranking Member Waxman, Communications and Technology 
Subcommittee Chairman Walden, and my good friend and the Ranking 
Subcommittee Member Eshoo for their strong bipartisan support in this 
effort. I also want to commend Senator Rubio for championing this 
critically important cause in the Senate.
  In many ways, this is a first-of-its-kind referendum on the future of 
the Internet. For nearly a decade, the United Nations has been angling 
quietly to become the epicenter of Internet governance. A vote for our 
resolution is a vote to keep the Internet free from government control, 
and to prevent Russia, China, India, and other nations from succeeding 
in giving the U.N. unprecedented control over Web content and 
infrastructure.
  Last year, e-commerce topped $200 billion in the U.S. for the first 
time and is up 15 percent so far this year. We also continue to lead 
the world in online innovation, creating millions of jobs and 
bolstering our economy at a time when we really need it.
  These proposed treaty changes, which have been going on in secret, 
could have a devastating impact worldwide on both freedom and economic 
prosperity. If this power grab is successful, I'm concerned that the 
next Arab Spring will instead become a Russian Winter where free speech 
is chilled, not encouraged, and the Internet becomes a wasteland of 
unfulfilled hopes, dreams, and opportunities.
  We cannot let this happen. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' for 
this resolution, and say ``no'' to online censorship by foreign 
governments.
  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Doyle), a highly regarded member of 
our committee.
  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, I want to add my support for this important 
resolution to safeguard the Internet from government control.

[[Page H5601]]

  I'd like to thank my friend and colleague, Mary Bono Mack, and my 
other colleagues from the Energy and Commerce Committee for introducing 
this measure, and I was delighted to become an original cosponsor.

                              {time}  1850

  This bipartisan resolution sends a clear message to the United 
Nations. It tells the International Telecommunication Union, which is 
the U.N. arm handling telecommunications issues, not to adopt 
regulations that would make it easier for governments to exercise 
tracking, surveillance, or censorship online.
  The Internet has developed into the revolutionary medium it is today 
because decisions over the structure of the Internet have been made by 
nongovernmental, expert organizations. These groups invite the 
participation of a number of stakeholders from academia, the private 
sector, public interests, and other experts, and they've done a good 
job of avoiding a lot of the political interference.
  At a time when some governments have actively been blocking users 
from accessing certain Web sites online, I am glad to see my colleagues 
unite against such repressive actions and in support of Internet 
freedom. Opposition to Internet censorship has always been a very 
bipartisan issue. I want to make that clear because sometimes this 
issue gets confused with other policy issues like net neutrality. Some 
of my colleagues have argued that net neutrality supporters somehow 
favor Internet censorship. I believe that users should be able to surf 
the Internet however they want to without being blocked from certain 
Web sites or services, which is what net neutrality is all about as 
well, so I think opposing censorship and favoring net neutrality go 
hand in hand.
  Mr. Speaker, I am glad to see this resolution move forward in a 
bipartisan fashion. I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. WALDEN. I now yield 3 minutes to a member of the Judiciary 
Committee who chairs the Intellectual Property, Competition, and the 
Internet Subcommittee and who has been one of our terrific leaders on 
the Republican side on the Internet with regard to keeping it free and 
open, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).
  Mr. GOODLATTE. I would like to thank Chairman Walden for his great 
work in this area and for his leadership on this issue.
  I rise to strongly support House Concurrent Resolution 127.
  Mr. Speaker, several hostile countries continue to pursue a U.N. 
takeover of the Internet through an organization known as the 
International Telecommunication Union, or ITU, which is an agency 
within the United Nations. In fact, a push is being made to negotiate 
international control of the Internet in Dubai this December. The U.N. 
is the absolute last entity that should have anything to do with 
managing the functioning of the Internet.
  Currently, the private, nonprofit ICANN, which is the Internet 
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, performs this function. 
While ICANN is far from perfect, having this responsibility rest with a 
private entity helps foster market principles and is the most efficient 
way to administer the Internet's domain name system and root servers.
  We must remain vigilant against efforts by foreign governments to 
consolidate the control of the Internet into a U.N.-centered body, 
which would lead to free speech and access restrictions and abuses. 
House Concurrent Resolution 127 will show Congress' unity behind this 
concept, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support this important 
resolution.
  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), who has been a recognized 
intellectual leader on telecommunications and the Internet for a long 
time in the Congress.
  Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentlelady for her great leadership.
  I have served 36 years on the Telecommunications Subcommittee. No 
Member of Congress has ever done this.
  I know that this is an important moment. This is an important 
resolution because the Internet today is indispensable to our economy, 
intricately linked to innovation worldwide, and initiates the free flow 
of ideas around the planet. It is the most successful communications 
and commercial medium in the history of the world.
  In testimony before the Telecommunications Subcommittee in May, Vint 
Cerf, known to many as the ``Father of the Internet,'' explained:

       To allow any rules that would sequester this innovation and 
     inhibit others would damage the future of the Internet 
     dramatically.

  I could not agree more. That is why I strongly support this 
bipartisan resolution with Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Walden, and Ms. 
Bono Mack. This is why we have to be out here together. It is why we 
must send a bipartisan signal to the rest of the world that the United 
States will defend an open Internet.
  The World Wide Web is essential to our economy. Companies large and 
small rely on the Web regardless of whether their commercial 
aspirations are local or global. The Internet's worldwide scope has 
also helped to foster community and cultural communications across the 
planet. We have recently witnessed the power of social media in 
toppling dictators and in promoting democracy across the globe.
  What makes the Internet so special is the decentralized, open system 
that currently governs it. It is chaotic; it is impossible to control; 
and the multistakeholder process that is in place today ensures the 
Internet's vibrancy will continue into the future.
  Here, domestically, we have to ensure that the broadband barons don't 
close down this cacophony of voices which are heard and stifle 
innovation. But globally, yes, a number of countries, including China 
and Russia, are now proposing measures that strike at the core of what 
makes the Internet great. Their proposals could stifle innovation, 
cripple job growth, muzzle democratic principles. These proposed 
measures include bringing the Internet under intergovernmental control 
and imposing fees for relaying Internet traffic or termination rates 
for delivering Internet traffic to its end destination.
  We have to resist and reject these regressive ideas. It would 
undermine the essence of the Internet. It would take us back to the 
days when, in the satellite world, it was the controlling governmental 
officials in countries that actually decided what ideas could go into 
that country and made people pay exorbitant rates in order to get 
access to those ideas. The Internet--this packet switch system that was 
invented in the United States--breaks down those barriers. We must 
ensure that we keep Internet freedom. Thank you all for bringing this 
great resolution out to the floor here this evening.
  Mr. WALDEN. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield 3 minutes to my 
distinguished colleague from California, Representative Zoe Lofgren, 
who is respected in the House for her knowledge, not only of 
technology, but of all the wraparound issues that are a part of it.
  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Thank you, Representative Eshoo, and 
thank you to all who have brought this important bipartisan resolution 
forward.
  I remember, as the Internet was beginning to take off commercially, 
that we had a discussion here in the government. Again, it was 
bipartisan, and there was an understanding that the Commerce Department 
was not going to be able to run the Internet. We did something that was 
a risk, but it worked out pretty well. We created ICANN, which 
basically allowed a multistakeholder, nongovernmental organization to 
do the technology, to assign the names and numbers. They've not been 
perfect but not half bad.
  What is before us today is a threat to what has been, as my colleague 
Mr. Markey has said, the greatest force in modern times for 
communication, for growth, for low-barrier entry into innovation--the 
Internet. Whether it is to tax it or to censor it for political or 
cultural reasons, we are aware that there are those around the world 
who wish to burn the Internet. We need to take a stand in this body and 
with our administration to say ``no'' to that.
  Whether the attempts to control the Internet from the top down come 
from

[[Page H5602]]

an international body like the International Telecommunication Union or 
from international trade agreements and treaties--and there have been 
many threats to the Internet that have been included in our 
international treaties or even sometimes from our own government--we 
need to stand up and protect the Internet and the freedom that it 
embodies.
  We know that the multistakeholder approach is critical to the 
continued robust growth of the Internet. We also know that the 
transparent, multistakeholder model has made the Internet such a hugely 
successful global platform for economic growth, human rights, and the 
free flow of information.

                              {time}  1900

  I'm proud to stand with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
say that America is going to stand up for freedom, we're going to stand 
up for technology, and we're not going to allow anyone, whatever their 
intentions may be, to threaten the freedom of the Internet to succeed.
  I appreciate Mrs. Bono Mack's efforts in this regard, along with Ms. 
Eshoo's, and the entire committee. I'm proud to be a cosponsor of the 
measure. I look forward to its resounding success in a vote tomorrow.
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from California has 8 
minutes remaining.
  Ms. ESHOO. I'll just make some closing comments because I don't have 
anyone else who is here to speak to this.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that everyone who has spoken has really spoken 
beautifully about this issue, about what the Internet represents not 
only to individuals, businesses, students, how it has changed how we 
live, how we work, how we learn, and the jobs that it has produced, 
what it has done for our national economy, but also what it has done 
relative to exporting democracy. Of course, the United States is front 
and center in this.
  It's a very interesting thing to me to examine those countries that 
are thinking another way and want to impose that thinking on the 
Internet. There are far more closed societies where freedom of thought, 
freedom of expression is not valued the way we do and other democracies 
do. So we need to form partnerships with other countries around the 
world to make sure that the democratizing effect that the Internet 
actually holds will continue.
  I'm proud to join again with my colleagues, with Mr. Walden, the 
distinguished chairman of our subcommittee, and Representative Bono 
Mack, who led the effort with this resolution. I'm proud that we're all 
together. And I always want to thank our staff, both on the majority 
and the minority side of the aisle, for the work that they do on the 
committee. I thank you all, and I salute you. I look forward to a 
unanimous vote of the United States House of Representatives in support 
of a free and open Internet.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives will send a clear and 
distinct message not only to our negotiators but to the world that we 
stand for liberty and we stand for freedom. When it comes to the 
Internet, both of those are incredibly important.
  The Internet has brought us economic prosperity not here alone but 
all over the globe. The Internet has allowed for political discourse as 
never imagined by the great scholars of Greece and Rome. It's brought 
us intellectual capabilities. If you think about what you can do on the 
Internet today to research something, to evaluate something, there are 
an unlimited number of sources of data. It's improved our lives. It's 
improved our lives through our political systems. It's allowed people 
who thought they had no opportunity to effect change to have an 
overwhelming effect by communicating together. This really is a vote 
for liberty. It's a vote for freedom. It's a vote for free speech. It's 
a vote for the things that our Founders believed in when they gave us 
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It's our version of that.
  We know that there are forces out there in the world that are opposed 
to all of those things, because they want command and control of their 
people, and that's not right. We have an opportunity tonight to send a 
clear and convincing message that we stand in America for freedom of 
the Internet, for no government anywhere in the globe taking charge of 
it and shutting it down and denying that great human spirit that we 
believe in so much here in America.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join us in a unanimous show of 
support. I thank my staff and the staff of Representative Eshoo and 
Ranking Member Waxman for their good work on this, and especially to my 
colleague from California, Mary Bono Mack, who raised this with us 
early on and worked closely to write a piece of legislation, that, as 
you can see in a sometimes otherwise controversial House, has brought 
us all together. That's a real tribute to Congresswoman Bono Mack's 
work.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I call on my colleagues to support this 
resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) that the House suspend the rules and 
agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 127.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. WALDEN. 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.

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