Senate takes companies to task for ignoring Internet freedom

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony on Internet freedom that emphasized how challenging it will be to find a way to open up the flow of information in repressive regimes. The consensus at the hearings is that it's in the US government's interests to continue to promote the free flow of information on the Internet, including in states like China and Iran.

The challenges that these nations pose came up throughout the testimony, but were best summarized in the testimony of Rebecca MacKinnon a Fellow at Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy. MacKinnon noted that almost every aspect of technology and law that cause problems for the citizens of repressive regimes all have legitimate uses in other contexts. So, for example, although US law allows a safe harbor, it remains illegal here to transfer things like child porn or classified materials over the Internet. In other nations, however, various forms of basic political activity are illegal, and Internet companies may end up acting as censors or informants in order to comply with the laws of other countries. Adding filtering capabilities to network hardware is essential for basic security, but the same technology can be used to enforce censorship. Sanctions and export controls also create problems. Google's Nicole Wang suggested that browser-based encryption could potentially help dissidents communicate securely, but her company cannot allow downloads to nations like Cuba and Iran. And a former Iranian blogger who has lived in the US since his 2004 detention by Iranian security forces pointed out that sanctions prevent US-based companies from hosting material where it's out of reach of Iranian authorities. Clearly, some finer-grained legal frameworks could help in these instances, but they wouldn't be enough to force systematic change in how both US regulators and businesses approach these markets.