Office of Global Internet Freedom

The US Congress has a long history of poking sticks at China. The recent mauling of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Cisco over their PRC activities has caught everybody's attention. It is no surprise then, to find the proposed Global Online Freedom Act of 2006 directed squarely at China.

For John Battelle's take on this, see here. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey is behind the bill and his views on Google and the rest are on his own web page along with his introduction to the recent hearings titled "“The Internet in China: A Tool for Freedom or Suppression?”.

CNET points out that "Nearly every U.S. company with a Web site located in China will have to move it elsewhere or its executives would face prison terms of up to a year" if the proposed legislation is enacted. The article goes on to question how likely Smith's Bill is to be successful:

It's unclear what the prospects are for the legislation, titled the Global Online Freedom Act of 2006. While the measure is likely to draw support from some politicians from both major parties, no companion version currently exists in the U.S. Senate, and election-year politics could complicate efforts to enact it anytime soon. Also, the proposal puts American businesses at a severe competitive disadvantage with China-based firms, which are immune from such rules and can locate servers in China and offer much faster response times for Internet users in that country.