Rep. Bill Keating, (D) Massachusetts

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REP. BILL KEATING, (D) MASSACHUSETTS, TALKS ABOUT EGYPT AND THE INTERNET AT BLOOMBERG TV

FEBRUARY 16, 2011

SPEAKERS: DEIRDRE BOLTON, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR

REP. BILL KEATING, (D) MASSACHUSETTS

7:16

DEIRDRE BOLTON, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR: That was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as she vowed the U.S. will step up its support of global internet freedom.

Our next guest says he at least has part of the answer. Congressman Bill Keating of Massachusetts is with us now from Washington. Good morning, Congressman. Glad you could join us.

You have said that the Iranian and Egyptian protests are showing us that social media can be as powerful as any gun. You're crafting legislation to prevent certain U.S. companies from selling censoring software to repressive regimes. Are you coordinating with the NSA - The National Security Administration?

REP. BILL KEATING, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Our effort is through the Foreign Affairs Committee right now in Congress. We're all excited to see what occurred in Egypt. And we know for a fact that the internet was such a powerful tool at bringing us forward. What really is troubling going forward is that, that same equipment that was in the hands of the Egyptians from an American company. That same equipment can be used to target and to monitor, to filter, and to do harm to people.

So, it's a great tool for democracy. It's also a tool - some of the equipment that's manufactured in America - it's also a tool for repressive regimes to stop human rights and to stop the very kind of move to democracy we saw in Egypt.

BOLTON: Congressman, you're pointing out the dark side. I mean one of the uses, as you mentioned, is that a totalitarian state can track which people are leading a call to democracy. And we've seen it in Egypt specifically, with one Google engineer actually being put in jail for 10 days and blindfolded. And obviously, we're assuming, it was not a pleasant two weeks for him. He was interrogated as well.

How exactly can you craft a law so there are no loop holes? Because we also have to assume, if certain companies are blocked from doing business, maybe someone else is going to try to meet that need, U.S.-based or not.

KEATING: Once we realize that indeed these can be weapons, we should treat them as weapons. And we do have agreements in place in the United States for American companies that are providing weapons - end use monitor agreements. And I think we should take that type of approach here. Can we control everything that happens in the world, perhaps not. But we can control and have greater restrictions on what we do as Americans.

We do not want American companies to be involved in the very kind of actions that we're trying to prevent worldwide. And that was dramatically unfolding in front of all of us in Egypt in the internet.

BOLTON: Congressman Keating, how much support do you feel that you have? I mean, you're obviously in the midst of crafting this legislation. But when you speak to your peers, I mean do you feel like you are going to get support for this legislation?

KEATING: Yes. I noticed the secretary of State's comments on the 15th, and I realized that I think the area of how this can be misused, if it goes into the wrong hands, is really I think percolating to the surface right now. So, there are discussions in Congress right now. There were discussions that day, and when we had the hearing last week and this issue was first brought up. And I do believe there's a strong feeling that American companies shouldn't be part of this. And you know it's something that we can control when we control weapons with other countries.

The difference with this is, we're mostly concerned with the weapons, conventional weapons, falling into third-party hands. This would be really targeted towards people that actually have the utilization you know, and can utilize it themselves. So, there's a slight difference in that respect. But the end product is this -

BOLTON: The end product is the same.

KEATING: The internet is going to be a terrific tool for democracy. We cannot have American companies be part of the usage you know in terms of repressing human rights.

BOLTON: Congressman Keating, we thank you for your time.

KEATING: Well, thank you.

BOLTON: Congressman Keating, joining us there from Washington, D.C.

***END OF TRANSCRIPT***

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