The “RESTRICT Act”, colloquially called the “TikTok ban” has been introduced into the U.S. congress by a bipartisan collection of mustelids, including the following senators:
- Warner
- Thune
- Baldwin
- Fischer
- Manchin
- Moran
- Bennet
- Sullivan
- Gillibrand
- Collins
- Heinrich
- Romney,
- Capito
Here is the full text of the bill.
Of course, as every other piece of … legislation intended to forge the shackles to enslave subjects of the United States, the name is cute acronym for “Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act”, with its stated purpose “To authorize the Secretary of Commerce to review and prohibit certain transactions between persons in the United States and foreign adversaries, and for other purposes.”
“other purposes”, indeed.
It lists the following “foreign adversaries” whose access can be restricted:
(i) the People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region;
(ii) the Republic of Cuba;
(iii) the Islamic Republic of Iran;
(iv) the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea;
(v) the Russian Federation; and
(vi) the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Maduro Moros.
and restricts:
(3) any software, hardware, or any other product or service integral to data hosting or computing service that uses, processes, or retains, or is expected to use, process, or retain, sensitive personal data with respect to greater than 1,000,000 persons in the United States at any point during the year period preceding the date on which the covered transaction is referred to the Secretary for review or the Secretary initiates review of the covered transaction, including—
(A) internet hosting services;
(B) cloud-based or distributed computing and data storage;
(C) machine learning, predictive analytics, and data science products and services, including those involving the provision of services to assist a party utilize, manage, or maintain open-source software;
(D) managed services; and
(E) content delivery services;
and
(6) software designed or used primarily for connecting with and communicating via the internet that is in use by greater than 1,000,000 persons in the United States at any point during the year period preceding the date on which the covered transaction is referred to the Secretary for review or the Secretary initiates review of the covered transaction, including—
(A) desktop applications;
(B) mobile applications;
(C) gaming applications;
(D) payment applications; or
(E) web-based applications; or
(7) information and communications technology products and services integral to—
(A) artificial intelligence and machine learning;
(B) quantum key distribution;
(C) quantum communications;
(D) quantum computing;
(E) post-quantum cryptography;
(F) autonomous systems;
(G) advanced robotics;
(H) biotechnology;
(I) synthetic biology;
(J) computational biology; and
(K) e-commerce technology and services, including any electronic techniques for accomplishing business transactions, online retail, internet-enabled logistics, internet-enabled payment technology, and online marketplaces.
What big teeth you have!
(b) Civil penalties.—The Secretary may impose the following civil penalties on a person for each violation by that person of this Act or any regulation, order, direction, mitigation measure, prohibition, or other authorization issued under this Act:
(1) A fine of not more than $250,000 or an amount that is twice the value of the transaction that is the basis of the violation with respect to which the penalty is imposed, whichever is greater.
(2) Revocation of any mitigation measure or authorization issued under this Act to the person.
(c) Criminal penalties.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A person who willfully commits, willfully attempts to commit, or willfully conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the commission of an unlawful act described in subsection (a) shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $1,000,000, or if a natural person, may be imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.
(2) CIVIL FORFEITURE.—
(A) FORFEITURE.—
(i) IN GENERAL.—Any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, used or intended to be used, in any manner, to commit or facilitate a violation or attempted violation described in paragraph (1) shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States.
(ii) PROCEEDS.—Any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, constituting or traceable to the gross proceeds taken, obtained, or retained, in connection with or as a result of a violation or attempted violation described in paragraph (1) shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States.
(B) PROCEDURE.—Seizures and forfeitures under this subsection shall be governed by the provisions of chapter 46 of title 18, United States Code, relating to civil forfeitures, except that such duties as are imposed on the Secretary of Treasury under the customs laws described in section 981(d) of title 18, United States Code, shall be performed by such officers, agents, and other persons as may be designated for that purpose by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General.
(3) CRIMINAL FORFEITURE.—
(A) FORFEITURE.—Any person who is convicted under paragraph (1) shall, in addition to any other penalty, forfeit to the United States—
(i) any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, used or intended to be used, in any manner, to commit or facilitate the violation or attempted violation of paragraph (1); and
(ii) any property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, constituting or traceable to the gross proceeds taken, obtained, or retained, in connection with or as a result of the violation.
(B) PROCEDURE.—The criminal forfeiture of property under this paragraph, including any seizure and disposition of the property, and any related judicial proceeding, shall be governed by the provisions of section 413 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 853), except subsections (a) and (d) of that section.
Well, we’ll just take 'em to court! No you won’t.
(b) Administrative and judicial review.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, actions taken by the President and the Secretary, and the findings of the President and the Secretary, under this Act shall not be subject to administrative review or judicial review in any Federal court, except as otherwise provided in this section. Actions taken by the Secretary under this Act shall not be subject to sections 551, 553 through 559, and 701 through 707 of title 5, United States Code.
Well, we’ll just have to keep a close watch on what they’re up to. Errrrm…no you can’t.
(f) No right of access.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—No provision of this Act shall be construed to create a right to obtain access to information in the possession of the Federal Government that was considered in making a determination under this Act that a transaction is a covered transaction or interest or to prohibit, mitigate, or take action against a covered transaction or interest, including any classified national security information or sensitive but unclassified information.
(2) INAPPLICABILITY OF FOIA.—Any information submitted to the Federal Government by a party to a covered transaction in accordance with this Act, as well as any information the Federal Government may create relating to review of the covered transaction, is exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the “Freedom of Information Act”).
Some people are saying the civil and criminal penalties under this act might be interpreted to apply to a U.S. citizen who uses a virtual private network (VPN) to access TikTok when it is banned from access from U.S. Internet addresses, with penalties potentially of 20 years in the slammer and US$ 250,000. That’s a damned expensive cat video!
Read the whole bill and see what you think of it. Is the U.S. about to erect a Great Firewall that will make China’s look like a sieve? Is this the opportunity to RESTRICT the Internet and, as I wrote in “The Digital Imprimatur” in 2003, “put the Internet genie back in the bottle.”