The Internet Freedom LeagueSeptember/October 2019 185
But despite handwringing in Washington and Brussels about au-
thoritarian schemes to split the Internet, the last thing Beijing and
Moscow want is to ¿nd themselves relegated to their own networks
and cut o from the global Internet. After all, they need access to the
Internet to steal intellectual property, spread propaganda, interfere
with elections in other countries, and threaten critical infrastructure
in rival countries. China and Russia would ideally like to re-create the
Internet in their own images and force the world to play by their re-
pressive rules. But they haven’t been able to do that—so instead they
have ramped up their eorts to tightly control outside access to their
markets, limit their citizens’ ability to reach the wider Internet, and
exploit the vulnerability that comes with the digital freedom and
openness enjoyed in the West.
The United States and its allies and partners should stop worrying
about the risk o authoritarians splitting the Internet. Instead, they
should split it themselves, by creating a digital bloc within which data,
services, and products can Çow freely, excluding countries that do not
respect freedom o expression or privacy rights, engage in disruptive
activity, or provide safe havens to cybercriminals. Under such a sys-
tem, countries that buy into the vision o a truly free and reliable
Internet would maintain and extend the bene¿ts o being connected,
and countries opposed to that vision would be prevented from spoil-
ing or corrupting it. The goal should be a digital version o the
Schengen Agreement, which has protected the free movement o
people, goods, and services in Europe. The 26 countries in the Schengen
area adhere to a set o rules and enforcement mechanisms; countries that
do not are shut out.
That kind o arrangement is what’s needed to save the free and
open Internet. Washington ought to form a coalition that would unite
Internet users, companies, and countries around democratic values,
respect for the rule o law, and fair digital trade: the Internet Freedom
League. Instead o allowing states that do not share those values un-
fettered access to the Internet and to Western digital markets and
technologies, a U.S.-led coalition should set the terms and conditions
under which nonmembers can remain connected and erect barriers
that limit the value they gain and the harm they can do. The league
would not raise a digital Iron Curtain; at least initially, most Internet
trac would still Çow between members and nonmembers, and the
league would primarily block companies and organizations that aid