U.S. tech companies warn of threat to Internet from foreign governments

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/tech-giants-warn-of-threats-to-free-and-profitable-internet/2012/05/30/gJQAkuxx2U_story.html

Congress to hear outcry over proposed foreign rules, an effort led by China, Russia, officials say.

That could mean the Web might look drastically different in other countries than it does in the United States, opponents of the proposals say. An Internet user in Uzbekistan could be more easily tracked by government officials and might get access to only a portion of the Google search results seen in the United States, for example.

Last September, Russia, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan wrote a letter to the U.N. General Assembly that called for an “international code of conduct” that would establish “norms and rules guiding the behaviour” of countries overseeing the Web.