The free flow and sharing of information are necessary for the economic and scientific progress and political freedom of countries, as well as the promotion of international peace and harmony. However, more and more nations are creating restrictive information policies to maintain their political, cultural, and economic status. This phenomenon can be termed "information protectionism." Some of the cooperative steps that are being taken to guarantee the open exchange of ideas and information and to establish a policy of global information interdependence are reviewed. It is argued that the basic challenge is to discover and maintain a realistic balance between open transborder data flow and national concerns and priorities.