The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is considering a bill to support global Internet freedom, following government disruption of access in Iran amid protests.
Iran International has reviewed a copy of a draft of a bill, which is being circulated among Senators on foreign relations committee. The bill is not named, and it is not on the Committee’s agenda calendar yet.
Sources familiar with US Government Internet freedom agenda told Iran International Congressional correspondent Arash Aalaei that there has been solid support in US Congress lately for Internet freedom, since the uprising in Iran, to provide free and accessible internet connectivity to Iranians.
After protests began in mid-September the Biden Administration pledged to help the people in Iran to circumvent Internet filtering as well as providing alternative methods of connectivity as opposed to traditional land and phone line internet.
The bill does not include any mentioning of any specific countries, but it mandates the Secretary of State to provide a comprehensive strategy to support global free internet, prioritizing countries and regions that are being repressed by continuous shutdowns of Internet.
The Iranian government has a two-decade old policy of restricting content that can be accessed on the Internet and during protests disrupts connectivity to prevent information sharing as it uses brutal methods to suppress the people.
Sources told Iran International that the bill is already being discussed by the Senate foreign relations committee members and has strong bipartisan support.