Breaching the Great Firewall of China: Congress Overreaches in Attacking Chinese Internet Censorship
Abstract
The Global Online Freedom Act of 2007 promotes freedom of expression on the Internet by prohibiting U.S. businesses from cooperating with officials in Internet-restricting countries. While the Act should be commended for imposing a higher standard of ethical business practices on U.S.corporations, there are significant problems with curing China's censorship policies by imposing liability on U.S. Internet companies. The standards and recommendations proposed by Congress within the Act correspond with an inherently American conception of freedom of expression. Thus, the Act imposes our domestic standards, rooted in the First Amendment, on states with very different political ideologies. A better alternative for addressing China's crackdown on free speech would be to create an industry-wide code of conduct.
Recommended Citation
Miriam D. D'Jaen, Breaching the Great Firewall of China: Congress Overreaches in Attacking Chinese Internet Censorship, 31 SEATTLE U. L. REV. 327 (2007).
