I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2216 

To develop and deploy technologies to defeat Internet jamming. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 10, 2005 

Mr. COX (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. 

WELLER, Mr. SCHIFF, and Mr. ACKERMAN) 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 charac10 teristics of a free society. The first amendment to 
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1 the Constitution guarantees that ‘‘Congress shall 

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

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

4 to assemble . . .’’. These constitutional provisions 

5 guarantee the rights of Americans to communicate 

6 and associate with one another without restriction, 

7 including unfettered communication and association 

8 via the Internet. Article 19 of the Universal Declara9 tion of Human Rights of the United Nations explic10 itly guarantees the freedom to ‘‘receive and impart 

11 information and ideas through any media and re12 gardless of frontiers’’. 

13 (2) All peoples have the right to communicate 

14 freely with others, and to have unrestricted access to 

15 news and information, including on the Internet. 

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

17 the world now online, and an increasing number of 

18 people gaining access to the Internet each day, the 

19 Internet stands to become the most powerful engine 

20 for democratization and the free exchange of ideas 

21 ever invented. 

22 (4) Unrestricted access to news and information 

23 on the Internet is a check on authoritarian rule by 

24 repressive foreign governments in countries around 

25 the world. 
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1 (5) The governments of Burma, Cuba, Iran, 

2 Laos, the Maldives, North Korea, the People’s Re3 public of China, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Vietnam, 

4 among others, are taking active measures to prevent 

5 their citizens from freely accessing the Internet and 

6 from obtaining international political, religious, and 

7 economic news and information. 

8 (6) Intergovernmental, nongovernmental, and 

9 media organizations have reported the widespread 

10 and increasing pattern by repressive foreign govern11 ments of Internet jamming, including jamming, cen12 soring, blocking, monitoring, and restricting Internet 

13 access and content by using technologies such as 

14 firewalls, filters, and ‘‘black boxes’’. Such inter15 ference with individual activity on the Internet in16 cludes surveillance of e-mail messages, message 

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

18 blocking’’ individuals from visiting particular 

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

20 who seek to visit these websites, and the complete 

21 denial of access to the Internet. 

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

23 Radio Free Asia, as well as hundreds of news 

24 sources with an Internet presence, are routinely 

25 being jammed by repressive governments. 
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1 (8) Since the 1940s, the United States has de2 ployed anti-jamming technologies to make Voice of 

3 America and other United States-sponsored radio 

4 broadcasting available to peoples in countries with 

5 governments that seek to block news and informa6 tion. 

7 (9) The United States has thus far commenced 

8 only modest steps to fund and deploy technologies to 

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

10 Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have com11 mitted a total of $3,000,000 for technology to 

12 counter Internet jamming of their websites by the 

13 People’s Republic of China. This technology has 

14 been relied upon by Voice of America and Radio 

15 Free Asia to ensure access to their programming, 

16 and it has successfully permitted 100,000 electronic 

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

18 States financial support for this technology has 

19 lapsed. In most other countries there is no meaning20 ful United States support for Internet freedom. 

21 (10) The success of United States policy in sup22 port of freedom of speech, press, and association re23 quires new initiatives to defeat totalitarian and au24 thoritarian controls on news and information over 

25 the Internet. 
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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

2 The purposes of this Act are— 

3 (1) to adopt an effective and robust global 

4 Internet freedom policy; 

5 (2) to establish an office within the Inter6 national Broadcasting Bureau with the sole mission 

7 of countering Internet jamming by repressive foreign 

8 governments; 

9 (3) to expedite the development and deployment 

10 of technologies to protect Internet freedom in coun11 tries around the world; 

12 (4) to authorize a substantial portion of United 

13 States international broadcasting resources to be 

14 committed to the continued development and imple15 mentation of technologies to counter Internet jam16 ming by repressive foreign governments; 

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

18 in the development and implementation of such tech19 nologies, so that the many current technologies used 

20 commercially for securing business transactions and 

21 providing virtual meeting spaces can be used to pro22 mote democracy and freedom in countries around 

23 the world; and 

24 (6) to bring to bear the pressure of the free 

25 world on repressive foreign governments that engage 

26 in Internet jamming and the intimidation and perse-
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1 cution by such governments of their citizens who use 

2 the Internet. 

3 SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF TECH4 NOLOGIES TO DEFEAT INTERNET JAMMING 

5 AND CENSORSHIP. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF GLOBAL INTER7 NET FREEDOM.—There is established in the International 

8 Broadcasting Bureau the Office of Global Internet Free9 dom (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). The Office 

10 shall be headed by a Director who shall develop and imple11 ment a comprehensive global strategy to combat state12 sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by repres13 sive foreign governments, and the intimidation and perse14 cution by such governments of their citizens who use the 

15 Internet. 

16 (b) COOPERATION OF OTHER FEDERAL DEPART17 MENTS AND AGENCIES.—Each department and agency of 

18 the United States Government shall cooperate fully with, 

19 and assist in the implementation of, the strategy developed 

20 by the Office and shall make such resources and informa21 tion available to the Office as is necessary to achieve the 

22 purposes of this Act. 

23 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than March 

24 1 of the year following the date of the enactment of this 

25 Act and one year thereafter, the Director of the Office 
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1 shall submit to Congress a report on the status of state2 sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by repres3 sive foreign governments and a description of efforts by 

4 the United States to counter such jamming. Each report 

5 shall list the countries the governments of which engage 

6 in Internet jamming, provide information concerning the 

7 government agencies or quasi-governmental organizations 

8 of such governments that engage in Internet jamming; and 

9 describe with the greatest particularity practicable the 

10 technological means by which such jamming is accom11 plished. If the Director determines that such is appro12 priate, the Director may submit such report together with 

13 a classified annex. 

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

15 Act shall be interpreted to authorize any action by the 

16 United States to interfere with Internet jamming by a re17 pressive foreign government if such jamming is in further18 ance of legitimate law enforcement aims that are con19 sistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

20 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to the Office 

22 $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2006 and 2007. 

23 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

24 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 

25 should— 
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1 (1) publicly, prominently, and consistently de2 nounce repressive foreign governments that engage 

3 in Internet jamming; 

4 (2) direct the United States Representative to 

5 the United Nations to submit a resolution at the 

6 next annual meeting of the United Nations Human 

7 Rights Commission condemning repressive foreign 

8 governments that engage in Internet jamming and 

9 deny their citizens the freedom to access and share 

10 information on the Internet; and 

11 (3) deploy, at the earliest practicable date, tech12 nologies aimed at defeating state-sponsored and 

13 state-directed Internet jamming by repressive for14 eign governments and the intimidation and persecu15 tion by such governments of their citizens who use 

16 the Internet. 

17 SEC. 6. DEFINITION. 

18 In this Act, the term ‘‘Internet jamming’’ means jam19 ming, censoring, blocking, monitoring, or restricting Inter20 net access and content by using technologies such as fire21 walls, filters, and ‘‘black boxes’’. 

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