United States Government Will Give Up Control of the Internet in 9 Days

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my great concern that in a mere 9 days the United States Government is going to give up control of the Internet. This is one of those issues that I don't think many Americans know about. This is not on the front page above the fold of your paper. It is not splashed across your nightly news. You are not seeing it everywhere on the Internet. So Americans aren't really aware of it 9 days before this transfer is about to take place.

Now, as the Speaker knows, there are many things in this House both parties don't always agree on--that might be an understatement. The President just transferred $1.7 billion to Iran; $400 million, arguably, was Iranian money, but $1.3 billion was American money, U.S. taxpayer money, transferred to Iran, the lead sponsor of Tehran cash. I disagree with that. Some of my colleagues on the other side might applaud that and think that is a great idea. I would disagree.

Or the fact that we are releasing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. Folks who helped craft the 9/11 attack are being released from GTMO back to areas where they can do America more harm. I disagree with that. My friends across the aisle might agree with those releases. Those are some big items that this Chamber does not agree on.

But the transfer of control of the core functions of the Internet is something that many Members of this Chamber and many Americans agree with. It is going to transfer those core functions to an international foreign body that will include Russia and China and Iran and even Europe, transferring that control.

And let's make no mistake; the Internet was made in America. The Internet was paid for by American taxpayers at its point of invention, and the Internet has revolutionized the world, revolutionized the form in which we communicate. Not only is it great technology, but it embodies the American idea of freedom of speech. It is all open. Put out your ideas; some are good, some are bad, some are true, some are false, but it is free, just like that American idea of free speech. We have exported that freedom of speech idea to the rest of the world on the Internet, radically transformed the way people around the world communicate, and it was made in America with the American idea of free speech.

Now, 9 days from now, we are on the cusp of transferring its control to a foreign body that doesn't share that same idea of freedom of speech. We all know Russia doesn't share that idea, China doesn't share that idea, and Iran doesn't share that idea. But you might say, my friends, Europe, they share that idea, don't they? Not necessarily, they don't. They have rules in the European Union that will delineate hate speech and offensive speech that has to be taken off the Internet--not an American idea. That is a European idea of free speech.

But when you talk about offensive speech, offensive to whom? I could say, well, Catholics or Christians might hold certain positions and put certain things on the Internet that another group finds offensive, or the LGBT community might put something on the Internet that another group finds offensive. I am sorry. In a debate of ideas where you have a free flow, people can get offended, and that is okay.

But, to shut down speech that is offensive, even in the European model, frankly, to me, is offensive.

I think what we have to do in this body is to prevent the transfer. The Internet, I would argue, is U.S. Government property; and if the President is you-know-what-bent on transferring its control, it should come to this House and to the Senate. We should vote. We should have hearings and a debate.

In the end, the American people should see how their Senators and their House Members vote on the transfer of the core functions of the Internet. They should have a say. They should be able to petition their elected Representatives to say: I love the idea that you are going to transfer control to a global body that doesn't share our ideas, or, my goodness, stop the transfer.

Petition your elected Representatives, and let's have them take a vote. That is not going to happen. It is going to be transferred by the President--without a vote. I would ask all Americans to stand up, to push back, to fight back, and to make sure we maintain the great idea of the American and now global Internet.

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