A Chinese computer executive was charged in 1998 with "inciting subversion of state power" by providing tens of thousands of Chinese e-mail addresses to "hostile foreign publications.
In 1997 in the USA over 300 Members of Congress sponsored or cosponsored bills regulating interactive businesses. Federal regulatory agencies are endeavouring to implement control of their piece of the Internet, including the FCC, FTC, NTIA, Treasury, Federal Reserve, White House Office of Technology Assessment, the Administration's Interagency Task Force, Patent and Trademark Office. At the international level, the United Nations, International Telecommunication Union, and the World Intellectual Property Organization have each announced their intent to censor Internet content.