A courageous and patriotic Google whistleblower has just given new reason for the U.S. government to introduce export license requirements on U.S. technology firms that wish to do business in authoritarian states.
As the BBC notes, whistleblower Jack Poulson’s letter to Congress alleges that Google is developing a software program, Dragonfly, which would allow the Chinese government to exert massive control over what Chinese citizens are able to see when they run Internet searches. This includes information on Chinese leaders, governance, and even data related to environmental pollution levels. While Google denies any project is close to taking action in China, Poulson’s warning should be a wake-up call for Congress. Specifically, a wake-up call to establish a far more stringent export license system with which to decide whether technology firms can operate boutique authoritarian software on foreign soil.
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