I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4741 

To develop and deploy technologies to defeat Internet jamming. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2006 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. WELLER, 

Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. WOLF, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 

ISSA, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, and Mr. SIMMONS) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International 

Relations 

A BILL 

To develop and deploy technologies to defeat Internet 

jamming. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Internet Free5 dom Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, 

9 and freedom of association are fundamental charac-
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1 teristics of a free society. The first amendment to 

2 the Constitution guarantees that ‘‘Congress shall 

3 make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, 

4 or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably 

5 to assemble . . .’’. These constitutional provisions 

6 guarantee the rights of Americans to communicate 

7 and associate with one another without restriction, 

8 including unfettered communication and association 

9 via the Internet. Article 19 of the Universal Declara10 tion of Human Rights of the United Nations explic11 itly guarantees the freedom to ‘‘receive and impart 

12 information and ideas through any media and re13 gardless of frontiers’’. 

14 (2) All peoples have the right to communicate 

15 freely with others, and to have unrestricted access to 

16 news and information, including on the Internet. 

17 (3) With nearly 14 percent of the population of 

18 the world now online, and an increasing number of 

19 people gaining access to the Internet each day, the 

20 Internet stands to become the most powerful engine 

21 for democratization and the free exchange of ideas 

22 ever invented. 

23 (4) Unrestricted access to news and information 

24 on the Internet is a check on authoritarian rule by 
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1 repressive foreign governments in countries around 

2 the world. 

3 (5) The governments of Burma, Cuba, Iran, 

4 Laos, the Maldives, North Korea, the People’s Re5 public of China, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Vietnam, 

6 among others, are taking active measures to prevent 

7 their citizens from freely accessing the Internet and 

8 from obtaining international political, religious, and 

9 economic news and information. 

10 (6) Intergovernmental, nongovernmental, and 

11 media organizations have reported the widespread 

12 and increasing pattern by repressive foreign govern13 ments of Internet jamming, including jamming, cen14 soring, blocking, monitoring, and restricting Internet 

15 access and content by using technologies such as 

16 firewalls, filters, and ‘‘black boxes’’. Such inter17 ference with individual activity on the Internet in18 cludes surveillance of e-mail messages, message 

19 boards, and the use of particular words, ‘‘stealth 

20 blocking’’ individuals from visiting particular 

21 websites, the development of ‘‘black lists’’ of users 

22 who seek to visit these websites, and the complete 

23 denial of access to the Internet. 

24 (7) The websites of the Voice of America and 

25 Radio Free Asia, as well as hundreds of news 
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1 sources with an Internet presence, are routinely 

2 being jammed by repressive governments. 

3 (8) Since the 1940s, the United States has de4 ployed anti-jamming technologies to make Voice of 

5 America and other United States-sponsored radio 

6 broadcasting available to peoples in countries with 

7 governments that seek to block news and informa8 tion. 

9 (9) The United States has thus far commenced 

10 only modest steps to fund and deploy technologies to 

11 defeat Internet jamming. To date, for example, the 

12 Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have com13 mitted a total of $3,000,000 for technology to 

14 counter Internet jamming of their websites by the 

15 People’s Republic of China. This technology has 

16 been relied upon by Voice of America and Radio 

17 Free Asia to ensure access to their programming, 

18 and it has successfully permitted 100,000 electronic 

19 hits per day from users in China. However, United 

20 States financial support for this technology has 

21 lapsed. In most other countries there is no meaning22 ful United States support for Internet freedom. 

23 (10) The success of United States policy in sup24 port of freedom of speech, press, and association re25 quires new initiatives to defeat totalitarian and au-
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1 thoritarian controls on news and information over 

2 the Internet. 

3 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

4 The purposes of this Act are— 

5 (1) to adopt an effective and robust global 

6 Internet freedom policy; 

7 (2) to establish an office within the Inter8 national Broadcasting Bureau with the sole mission 

9 of countering Internet jamming by repressive foreign 

10 governments; 

11 (3) to expedite the development and deployment 

12 of technologies to protect Internet freedom in coun13 tries around the world; 

14 (4) to authorize a substantial portion of United 

15 States international broadcasting resources to be 

16 committed to the continued development and imple17 mentation of technologies to counter Internet jam18 ming by repressive foreign governments; 

19 (5) to utilize the expertise of the private sector 

20 in the development and implementation of such tech21 nologies, so that the many current technologies used 

22 commercially for securing business transactions and 

23 providing virtual meeting spaces can be used to pro24 mote democracy and freedom in countries around 

25 the world; and 
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1 (6) to bring to bear the pressure of the free 

2 world on repressive foreign governments that engage 

3 in Internet jamming and the intimidation and perse4 cution by such governments of their citizens who use 

5 the Internet. 

6 SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF TECH7 NOLOGIES TO DEFEAT INTERNET JAMMING 

8 AND CENSORSHIP. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF GLOBAL INTER10 NET FREEDOM.—There is established in the International 

11 Broadcasting Bureau the Office of Global Internet Free12 dom (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). The Office 

13 shall be headed by a Director who shall develop and imple14 ment a comprehensive global strategy to combat state15 sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by repres16 sive foreign governments, and the intimidation and perse17 cution by such governments of their citizens who use the 

18 Internet. 

19 (b) COOPERATION OF OTHER FEDERAL DEPART20 MENTS AND AGENCIES.—Each department and agency of 

21 the United States Government shall cooperate fully with, 

22 and assist in the implementation of, the strategy developed 

23 by the Office and shall make such resources and informa24 tion available to the Office as is necessary to achieve the 

25 purposes of this Act. 
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1 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than March 

2 1 of the year following the date of the enactment of this 

3 Act and one year thereafter, the Director of the Office 

4 shall submit to Congress a report on the status of state5 sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by repres6 sive foreign governments and a description of efforts by 

7 the United States to counter such jamming. Each report 

8 shall list the countries the governments of which engage 

9 in Internet jamming, provide information concerning the 

10 government agencies or quasi-governmental organizations 

11 of such governments that engage in Internet jamming; and 

12 describe with the greatest particularity practicable the 

13 technological means by which such jamming is accom14 plished. If the Director determines that such is appro15 priate, the Director may submit such report together with 

16 a classified annex. 

17 (d) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 

18 Act shall be interpreted to authorize any action by the 

19 United States to interfere with Internet jamming by a re20 pressive foreign government if such jamming is in further21 ance of legitimate law enforcement aims that are con22 sistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

23 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

24 are authorized to be appropriated to the Office 

25 $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007 and 2008. 
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1 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 

3 should— 

4 (1) publicly, prominently, and consistently de5 nounce repressive foreign governments that engage 

6 in Internet jamming; 

7 (2) direct the United States Representative to 

8 the United Nations to submit a resolution at the 

9 next annual meeting of the United Nations Human 

10 Rights Commission condemning repressive foreign 

11 governments that engage in Internet jamming and 

12 deny their citizens the freedom to access and share 

13 information on the Internet; and 

14 (3) deploy, at the earliest practicable date, tech15 nologies aimed at defeating state-sponsored and 

16 state-directed Internet jamming by repressive for17 eign governments and the intimidation and persecu18 tion by such governments of their citizens who use 

19 the Internet. 

20 SEC. 6. DEFINITION. 

21 In this Act, the term ‘‘Internet jamming’’ means jam22 ming, censoring, blocking, monitoring, or restricting Inter23 net access and content by using technologies such as fire24 walls, filters, and ‘‘black boxes’’. 

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