US-based companies could be held liable for helping officials in other countries censor the Internet, if a bill proposed by House Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) is approved. Smith recently announced his plans to push the Global Online Freedom Act (HR 275) to the House floor for voting after having lobbied human rights organization Reporters Without Borders for support. Among other things, the Global Online Freedom Act will bar US companies from disclosing personally-identifiable information about a user, except for "legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes."

"American high-tech firms have produced the technology and know-how that has led to a modern-day information revolution," Smith said in a statement. "Sadly, however, instead of working to allow everyone to benefit from these advancements, these same high-tech firms are colluding with dictators and tyrannical regimes such as China to suppress human rights information and punish pro-democracy advocates."

Among other things, the Act appears to be a direct response to the furor over Yahoo's involvement in outing a number of Chinese dissidents to the government, resulting in their arrest and imprisonment. At least two Chinese pro-Democracy advocates have filed lawsuits against Yahoo for turning over their e-mails to the government, but Yahoo has said repeatedly that it simply complied with the requests of local law enforcement and was not aware of the nature of the investigations.

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