rep wu - internet freedom act of 2010

8/14/2019 Rep Wu - Internet Freedom Act of 2010

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(Original Signature of Member)

111TH CONGRESS2D SESSION H. R.ll

To establish the Internet Freedom Foundation, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. WU introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

onllllllllllllll

A BILL

To establish the Internet Freedom Foundation, and for other

purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.3

This Act may be cited as the Internet Freedom Act4

of 2010.5

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.6

The Congress makes the following findings:7

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(1) Freedom of conscience, freedom of speech,1

freedom of the press, and freedom of association are2

fundamental human rights.3

(2) Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of4

Human Rights declares Everyone has the right to5

freedom of opinion and expression; this right in-6

cludes freedom to hold opinions without interference7

and to seek, receive and impart information and8

ideas through any media and regardless of fron-9

tiers..10

(3) The Internet is a transformative force and11

stands to become the most powerful engine for cit-12

izen empowerment, transparency, and the free ex-13

change of ideas ever invented.14

(4) Any government, or government sanctioned,15

supported, authorized, or endorsed entity, either ex-16

plicitly or implicitly, that blocks, restricts, controls,17

or monitors any persons use of the Internet effec-18

tively transforms the Internet into a tool of censor-19

ship and surveillance, in contravention of the Uni-20

versal Declaration of Human Rights and the Inter-21

national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.22

SEC. 3. INTERNET FREEDOM FOUNDATION.23

(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INTERNET FREEDOM24

FOUNDATION.The National Science Foundation shall25



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establish the Internet Freedom Foundation. The Internet1

Freedom Foundation shall2

(1) award competitive, merit-reviewed grants,3

cooperative agreements, or contracts to private in-4

dustry, universities, and other research and develop-5

ment organizations to develop deployable tech-6

nologies to defeat Internet suppression and censor-7

ship; and8

(2) award incentive prizes to private industry,9

universities, and other research and development or-10

ganizations that successfully develop deployable tech-11

nologies to defeat Internet suppression and censor-12

ship.13

(b) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY.Nothing in this14

Act shall be interpreted to authorize any action by the15

United States to interfere with foreign national censorship16

in furtherance of law enforcement aims that are consistent17

with the International Covenant on Civil and Political18

Rights.19

SEC. 4. DEFINITION.20

The term Internet suppression means censoring,21

blocking, monitoring, or restricting access to the Internet,22

or to content made available via the Internet, by using23

technologies such as firewalls, filters, and black boxes.24



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SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.1

It is the sense of the Congress that the United States2

should3

(1) publicly, prominently, and consistently de-4

nounce governments and private entities that re-5

strict, censor, ban, and block access to information6

on the Internet; and7

(2) support the deployment, at the earliest8

practicable date, of technologies aimed at defeating9

state-directed and state-sponsored Internet suppres-10

sion and the persecution by governments and private11

entities of those individuals who use the Internet.12

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.13

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Inter-14

net Freedom Foundation such sums as may be necessary15

to carry out this Act.16



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rep wu - internet freedom act of 2010

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