[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1367 Introduced in House (IH)]







                                    


105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. ____




_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES



   Mr. Barrett of Wisconsin introduced the following bill; which was 
      referred to the Committee on ______________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit Federal agencies from making available through the Internet 
   certain confidential records with respect to individuals, and to 
provide for remedies in cases in which such records are made available 
                         through the Internet.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Internet Privacy Protection 
Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST MAKING CERTAIN CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS 
              AVAILABLE THROUGH THE INTERNET; REMEDIES.

    (a) Prohibition Against Making Records Available Through the 
Internet.--No agency (as that term is defined in section 552(f) of 
title 5, United States Code) shall make available through the Internet 
any record with respect to an individual.
    (b) Remedies Available in Cases of Release of Records Through the 
Internet.--In any case in which an agency makes or has made available 
through the Internet a record with respect to an individual (including 
a case in which a record was made available through the Internet before 
the date of the enactment of this Act) and such individual suffers harm 
as a result, the individual may bring a civil action against the agency 
and such action shall be treated as a suit under section 552a(g)(1)(D) 
of such title.
    (c) Definition of Record.--As used in this section, the term 
``record'' means any item, collection, or grouping of information about 
an individual that--
            (1) is maintained by an agency with respect to the 
        education, financial transactions, medical history, or 
        employment history of the individual; and
            (2) contains the name or the identifying number, symbol, or 
        other identifying particular assigned to the individual.