Durbin calls for sanction on Web firms that do not promote Internet freedom

[babylonsister]

Durbin calls for sanction on Web firms that do not promote Internet freedom
By Tony Romm - 03/02/10 10:23 AM ET


Internet companies that fail to take "reasonable steps" to safeguard human rights in foreign countries could face sanctions under a forthcoming bill by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.).

At a hearing on Tuesday, Durbin pitched the bill as his response to the growing number of U.S. tech firms that have failed to cooperate with congressional lawmakers on promoting Internet freedoms abroad.

Many of those businesses — including Google, Yahoo and Bing — have willingly censored their content in countries like China, which maintain limits on free expression as conditions of doing businesses, Durbin explained. Others, including McAfee, have developed Web censor technology similar to that deployed in states that prohibit unfettered Internet access, Durbin continued.

However, few of those companies opted to testify during Tuesday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, which Durbin chairs, he said.

Facebook and Twitter declined invites last week, and computer makers Hewlett-Packard and Apple opted not to comment on censor technology pre-installed on Chinese computers, according to the senator. McAfee, meanwhile, first accepted the opportunity to testify at Tuesday's hearing, but ultimately declined at the last minute, Durbin added.

Consequently, Durbin stressed it was time for Congress to take more forceful action to ensure tech companies did not abandon U.S. values in order to do business abroad.

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/84431-durbin-to-introduce-bill-to-sanction-web-companies-that-do-not-promote-internet-freedom

[madrchsod]

1. we have one excellent senator but....

right now illinois is a toss-up.