Palo Alto, CA – The House Foreign Affairs Committee today held a field hearing in Northern California on the U.S. export control regime, which regulates the dissemination abroad of dual-use technologies – those that can be used either for civilian or military purposes. As the hearing came to a close, Chairman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), made the following remarks about current events involving Google and China:
“It is not the topic of our hearing today, but I did want to say that our committee is considering the matter of Internet freedom. We have sought information from U.S. companies, many of which are based in this area of California, on the Global Network Initiative, which advocates that companies adopt corporate responsibility guidelines and collaborate with human rights NGOs to push back on Internet-repressive regimes’ demands. We sought this information at the end of last year and are currently evaluating their responses. We will continue to be engaged in the issue.”