US Congress House Bill 6621 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: Introduced on April 24 2020 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2020-04-24 - Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Pending: House Foreign Affairs Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Authorizes the existing Open Technology Fund (OTF) as an independent grantee within the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The OTF is an independent nonprofit organization within the purview of the USAGM that supports the development of internet freedom technologies that create ways to counter censorship efforts. As an independent grantee authorized by this bill, the OTF shall seek to advance freedom of the press and unrestricted internet access in repressive environments through functions such as researching, developing, implementing, and maintaining secure communications tools and technologies that circumvent censorship techniques used to limit or block access to the internet; advancing internet freedom by supporting private and public sector efforts to provide secure and uncensored access to the internet; and developing, acquiring, and distributing internet freedom technologies and techniques to fully enable the creation and distribution of digital content between and to all users and audiences. To advance freedom of the press and unrestricted internet access, the OTF shall use methods that include supporting fully open-source tools, code, and components that are as secure, transparent, and accessible as possible; supporting technologies that undergo comprehensive security audits; and establishing safeguards to mitigate the use of supported technologies for illicit purposes. The Department of State must report on the effectiveness of the OTF and the extent to which U.S. interests are being served by its work, and the Government Accountability Office shall have access to all information pertaining to financial transactions as may be necessary to facilitate an audit.

Open Technology Fund Authorization Act

Rep. Michael McCaul [R-TX]	Rep. Eliot Engel [D-NY]	Rep. John Curtis [R-UT]	Rep. Tom Malinowski [D-NJ]
Rep. Ben McAdams [D-UT]	Rep. Adam Kinzinger [R-IL]	Rep. Chris Stewart [R-UT]

Date	Chamber	Action
2020-04-24	House	Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
2020-04-24	House	Introduced in House

SB3820 (Related) 2020-05-21 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6621/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr6621/BILLS-116hr6621ih.pdf