No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5076 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5076
To require periodic updates to the comprehensive strategy to promote
Internet freedom and access to information in Iran, to authorize grants
to support and develop programs in Iran that promote or expand an open,
interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 17, 2024
Mr. Cardin (for himself and Mr. Lankford) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require periodic updates to the comprehensive strategy to promote
Internet freedom and access to information in Iran, to authorize grants
to support and develop programs in Iran that promote or expand an open,
interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Iran Internet Freedom Act''.
SEC. 2. UPDATES TO COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO PROMOTE INTERNET FREEDOM
AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN IRAN.
(a) Updates.--Section 414 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria
Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8754) is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking
``Not later than'' and inserting the following:
``(a) Initial Strategy.--Not later than'';
(2) in subsection (a), as redesignated--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (11) and (12) as
paragraphs (14) and (15), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (10) the
following:
``(11) evaluate the use of virtual private networks by
civil society and human rights activists in Iran and develop
strategies for increasing the accessibility to such networks;
``(12) develop guidance for the Department of the Treasury
to ensure that enforcement of sanctions does not prevent
companies from providing Iranian civilians with the technology
and other tools necessary to access the open Internet;
``(13) assess the ability of the Iranian regime to cut off
all access to the Internet and develop a strategy to circumvent
Internet blackouts for Iranian civil society;''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) Mandatory Update.--Not later than 120 days after the date of
the enactment of the Iran Internet Freedom Act, the Secretary of State,
in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the heads of
other Federal agencies, as appropriate, shall--
``(1) review and update the strategy to more effectively
address the objectives described in subsection (a); and
``(2) submit the updated strategy to the appropriate
congressional committees.
``(c) Periodic Reviews; Updates.--The Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Secretary of Treasury, and the heads of other
Federal agencies, as appropriate, shall--
``(1) periodically review the strategy submitted pursuant
to subsection (a); and
``(2) whenever such review reveals the need to modify such
strategy to more effectively address the objectives described
in subsection (a), submit an updated strategy to the
appropriate congressional committees.
``(d) Form.--Each strategy required under this section shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.''.
SEC. 3. PROGRAMMING AND SUPPORT TO CIRCUMVENT IRANIAN INTERNET
CENSORSHIP.
(a) Grants To Support Internet Freedom Technology Programs in
Iran.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Administrator
of the United States Agency for International Development and the
President of the Open Technology Fund, as appropriate, may award grants
and contracts to private organizations to support and develop programs
in Iran that promote or expand--
(1) an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet;
and
(2) the online exercise of human rights and fundamental
freedoms of individual citizens, activists, human rights
defenders, independent journalists, civil society
organizations, and marginalized populations in Iran.
(b) Goals.--The goals of the programs developed with grants
authorized under subsection (a) should be--
(1) to support unrestricted access to the Internet in Iran;
(2) to increase the availability of internet freedom tools
in Iran;
(3) to scale up the distribution of such technologies and
tools throughout Iran;
(4) to conduct research on repressive tactics that
undermine internet freedom in Iran;
(5) to ensure information on digital safety is available to
human rights defenders, independent journalists, civil society
organizations, and marginalized populations in Iran; and
(6) to engage private industry, including e-commerce firms
and social networking companies, regarding the importance of
preserving unrestricted Internet access in Iran.
(c) Grant Recipients.--Grants authorized under this section shall
be distributed to multiple vendors and suppliers through an open, fair,
competitive, and evidence-based decision process--
(1) to diversify the technical base; and
(2) to reduce the risk of misuse by bad actors.
(d) Security Audits.--New technologies developed using grants
authorized under this section shall undergo comprehensive security
audits to ensure that such technologies are secure and have not been
compromised in a manner detrimental to--
(1) the interests of the United States; or
(2) individuals or organizations benefitting from programs
supported by such funding.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to
the Open Technology Fund, in addition to the amount
appropriated for the Open Technology Fund pursuant to section
1299P(d) of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283),
$15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2025 and 2026 to carry
out the grant program authorized under this section.
(2) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to
paragraph (1) shall remain available until expended.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line