Safeguarding Internet Freedom in Hong Kong Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4245 To develop and deploy firewall circumvention tools for the people of Hong Kong after the People’s Republic of China violated its agreement under the Joint Declaration, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 21, 2020 Mr. LANKFORD (for himself and Mr. KAINE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To develop and deploy firewall circumvention tools for the people of Hong Kong after the People’s Republic of China violated its agreement under the Joint Declara- tion, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Internet 4 Freedom in Hong Kong Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 7 should— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4245 IS (1) support the ability of the people of Hong 1 Kong to maintain their freedom to access informa- 2 tion online; and 3 (2) focus on investments in technologies that 4 facilitate the unhindered exchange of information in 5 Hong Kong in advance of any future efforts by the 6 Chinese Communist Party— 7 (A) to suppress internet access; 8 (B) to increase online censorship; or 9 (C) to inhibit online communication and 10 content-sharing by the people of Hong Kong. 11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 12 In this Act: 13 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 14 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 15 mittees’’ means— 16 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 17 the Senate; 18 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 19 the Senate; 20 (C) the Select Committee on Intelligence of 21 the Senate; 22 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 23 the House of Representatives; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4245 IS (E) the Committee on Appropriations of 1 the House of Representatives; and 2 (F) the Permanent Select Committee on 3 Intelligence of the House of Representatives. 4 (2) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.—The term 5 ‘‘interagency working group’’ means— 6 (A) the Under Secretary of State for Civil- 7 ian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights; 8 (B) the Assistant Secretary of State for 9 East Asian and Pacific Affairs; 10 (C) the Chief Executive Officer of the 11 Open Technology Fund; and 12 (D) the Administrator of the United States 13 Agency for International Development. 14 SEC. 4. HONG KONG INTERNET FREEDOM PROGRAM. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State is author- 16 ized to establish an interagency working group to develop 17 a strategy to bolster internet resiliency and online access 18 in Hong Kong. The Secretary shall establish a Hong Kong 19 Internet Freedom Program in the Bureau of Democracy, 20 Human Rights, and Labor at the Department of State. 21 Additionally, the Chief Executive Officer of the Open 22 Technology Fund is authorized to establish a Hong Kong 23 Internet Freedom Program. These programs shall operate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4245 IS independently, but in strategic coordination with other en- 1 tities in the interagency working group. 2 (b) INDEPENDENCE.—During the period beginning 3 on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on 4 September 30, 2023, the Program shall be carried out 5 independent from the mainland China internet freedom 6 portfolios in order to focus on supporting liberties pres- 7 ently enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong. 8 (c) CONSOLIDATION OF DEPARTMENT OF STATE 9 PROGRAM.—Beginning on October 1, 2023, the Secretary 10 of State may— 11 (1) consolidate the Program with the mainland 12 China initiatives in the Bureau of Democracy, 13 Human Rights, and Labor; or 14 (2) continue to carry out the Program in ac- 15 cordance with subsection (b). 16 (d) CONSOLIDATION OF OPEN TECHNOLOGY FUND 17 PROGRAM.—Beginning on October 1, 2023, the CEO of 18 the Open Technology Fund may— 19 (1) consolidate the Program with the mainland 20 China initiatives in the Open Technology Fund; or 21 (2) continue to carry out the Program in ac- 22 cordance with subsection (b). 23 SEC. 5. SUPPORT FOR INFORMATION PROGRAMS. 24 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4245 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, 1 working through the Open Technology Fund and the 2 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, is 3 authorized to award grants to private organizations 4 to support and develop programs in Hong Kong that 5 promote or expand— 6 (A) online information access; 7 (B) freedom of the press; 8 (C) disruptive technologies that bypass 9 internet blocking, filtering, and other censorship 10 techniques; 11 (D) virtual private networks; 12 (E) firewall circumvention tools; 13 (F) distributed denial of service mitigation 14 techniques; 15 (G) digital security capacity building for 16 internet users; or 17 (H) digital resiliency for international or- 18 ganizations, pro-democracy activists, and other 19 civil society actors in Hong Kong, including 20 emergency support. 21 (2) GOALS.—The goals of the programs devel- 22 oped with grants authorized under paragraph (1) 23 should be— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4245 IS (A) to make the technologies described in 1 paragraph (1) available in Hong Kong; 2 (B) to increase the number of the tools in 3 the circumvention technology portfolio; 4 (C) to promote the availability of such 5 technologies and tools in Hong Kong; 6 (D) to encourage the adoption of such 7 technologies and tools by the people of Hong 8 Kong; 9 (E) to scale up the distribution of such 10 technologies and tools throughout Hong Kong; 11 (F) to prioritize the development of tools, 12 components, code, and technologies that are 13 fully open-source, to the extent practicable; 14 (G) to conduct research on repressive tac- 15 tics that undermine internet freedom in Hong 16 Kong; and 17 (H) to engage American private industry, 18 including e-commerce firms and social net- 19 working companies, on the importance of pre- 20 serving internet access in Hong Kong. 21 (3) GRANT RECIPIENTS.—Grants authorized 22 under this subsection shall be distributed to multiple 23 vendors and suppliers through an open, fair, com- 24 petitive, and evidence-based decision process— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4245 IS (A) to diversify the technical base; and 1 (B) to reduce the risk of mitigation by bad 2 actors. 3 (4) SECURITY AUDITS.—New technologies de- 4 veloped using grants from this subsection shall un- 5 dergo comprehensive security audits to ensure that 6 such technologies are secure and have not been com- 7 promised in a manner detrimental to the interests of 8 the United States or to individuals or organizations 9 benefitting from programs supported by the Open 10 Technology Fund. 11 (b) FUNDING SOURCE.—The Secretary of State is 12 authorized to expend funds from the Human Rights and 13 Democracy Fund of the Bureau of Democracy, Human 14 Rights, and Labor of the Department of State during fis- 15 cal year 2020 for grants authorized under subsection (a) 16 at any entity in the interagency working group. 17 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 18 (1) OPEN TECHNOLOGY FUND.—In addition to 19 the funds authorized to be expended pursuant to 20 subsection (b), there are authorized to be appro- 21 priated to the Open Technology Fund $5,000,000 22 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2023 to 23 carry out this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4245 IS (2) BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, 1 AND LABOR.—In addition to the funds authorized to 2 be expended pursuant to subsection (b), there are 3 authorized to be appropriated to the Office of Inter- 4 net Freedom Programs in the Bureau of Democracy, 5 Human Rights, and Labor of the Department of 6 State $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 7 through 2023 to carry out this section. 8 (3) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pur- 9 suant to paragraphs (1) and (2) shall remain avail- 10 able until expended. 11 SEC. 6. STRATEGIC PLANNING REPORT. 12 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact- 13 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State and the inter- 14 agency working group shall submit a classified report to 15 the appropriate congressional committees that— 16 (1) describes the Federal Government’s plan to 17 bolster and increase the availability of firewall cir- 18 cumvention technology in Hong Kong during fiscal 19 year 2021, including— 20 (A) secure private messaging tools; 21 (B) secure file storage and sharing plat- 22 forms; 23 (C) virtual private networks; 24 (D) satellite internet; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4245 IS (E) proxies; 1 (F) refraction routing; 2 (G) pluggable transports; and 3 (H) other secure communication mecha- 4 nisms and anti-censorship technologies; 5 (2) outlines a plan for— 6 (A) supporting the preservation of an 7 open, interoperable, reliable, and secure internet 8 in Hong Kong; 9 (B) increasing the supply of the technology 10 referred to in paragraph (1); 11 (C) accelerating the dissemination of such 12 technology; 13 (D) promoting the availability of such 14 technology in Hong Kong; 15 (E) utilizing presently available tools in the 16 mainland China portfolio for further use in the 17 unique context of Hong Kong; 18 (F) expanding the portfolio of tools in 19 order to diversify and strengthen the effective- 20 ness and resiliency of the circumvention efforts; 21 and 22 (G) providing training for high-risk groups 23 and individuals in Hong Kong; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4245 IS (3) includes a detailed description of the tech- 1 nical and fiscal steps necessary to implement the 2 plans referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2), includ- 3 ing an analysis of the market conditions in Hong 4 Kong; 5 (4) describes the Federal Government’s plans 6 for awarding grants to private organizations for the 7 purposes described in section 5(a)(1); 8 (5) outlines the interagency working group’s 9 consultations regarding the implementation of this 10 Act to ensure that all Federal efforts are aligned 11 and well coordinated; and 12 (6) outlines the Department of State’s strategy 13 to influence global internet legal standards at inter- 14 national organizations and multilateral fora. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Aug 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4245.IS S4245 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS