[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2917 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2917

   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure net neutrality.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 19, 2006

 Ms. Snowe (for herself, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Leahy, 
Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Obama, and Mrs. Clinton) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure net neutrality.

    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 ``Internet Freedom Preservation Act''.

SEC. 2. INTERNET NEUTRALITY.

    Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 12. INTERNET NEUTRALITY.

    ``(a) Duty of Broadband Service Providers.--With respect to any 
broadband service offered to the public, each broadband service 
provider shall--
            ``(1) not block, interfere with, discriminate against, 
        impair, or degrade the ability of any person to use a broadband 
        service to access, use, send, post, receive, or offer any 
        lawful content, application, or service made available via the 
        Internet;
            ``(2) not prevent or obstruct a user from attaching or 
        using any device to the network of such broadband service 
        provider, only if such device does not physically damage or 
        substantially degrade the use of such network by other 
        subscribers;
            ``(3) provide and make available to each user information 
        about such user's access to the Internet, and the speed, 
        nature, and limitations of such user's broadband service;
            ``(4) enable any content, application, or service made 
        available via the Internet to be offered, provided, or posted 
        on a basis that--
                    ``(A) is reasonable and nondiscriminatory, 
                including with respect to quality of service, access, 
                speed, and bandwidth;
                    ``(B) is at least equivalent to the access, speed, 
                quality of service, and bandwidth that such broadband 
                service provider offers to affiliated content, 
                applications, or services made available via the public 
                Internet into the network of such broadband service 
                provider; and
                    ``(C) does not impose a charge on the basis of the 
                type of content, applications, or services made 
                available via the Internet into the network of such 
                broadband service provider;
            ``(5) only prioritize content, applications, or services 
        accessed by a user that is made available via the Internet 
        within the network of such broadband service provider based on 
        the type of content, applications, or services and the level of 
        service purchased by the user, without charge for such 
        prioritization; and
            ``(6) not install or utilize network features, functions, 
        or capabilities that impede or hinder compliance with this 
        section.
    ``(b) Certain Management and Business-Related Practices.--Nothing 
in this section shall be construed to prohibit a broadband service 
provider from engaging in any activity, provided that such activity is 
not inconsistent with the requirements of subsection (a), including--
            ``(1) protecting the security of a user's computer on the 
        network of such broadband service provider, or managing such 
        network in a manner that does not distinguish based on the 
        source or ownership of content, application, or service;
            ``(2) offering directly to each user broadband service that 
        does not distinguish based on the source or ownership of 
        content, application, or service, at different prices based on 
        defined levels of bandwidth or the actual quantity of data flow 
        over a user's connection;
            ``(3) offering consumer protection services (including 
        parental controls for indecency or unwanted content, software 
        for the prevention of unsolicited commercial electronic 
        messages, or other similar capabilities), if each user is 
        provided clear and accurate advance notice of the ability of 
        such user to refuse or disable individually provided consumer 
        protection capabilities;
            ``(4) handling breaches of the terms of service offered by 
        such broadband service provider by a subscriber, provided that 
        such terms of service are not inconsistent with the 
        requirements of subsection (a); or
            ``(5) where otherwise required by law, to prevent any 
        violation of Federal or State law.
    ``(c) Exception.--Nothing in this section shall apply to any 
service regulated under title VI, regardless of the physical 
transmission facilities used to provide or transmit such service.
    ``(d) Stand-Alone Broadband Service.--A broadband service provider 
shall not require a subscriber, as a condition on the purchase of any 
broadband service offered by such broadband service provider, to 
purchase any cable service, telecommunications service, or IP-enabled 
voice service.
    ``(e) Implementation.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, the Commission 
shall prescribe rules to implement this section that--
            ``(1) permit any aggrieved person to file a complaint with 
        the Commission concerning any violation of this section; and
            ``(2) establish enforcement and expedited adjudicatory 
        review procedures consistent with the objectives of this 
        section, including the resolution of any complaint described in 
        paragraph (1) not later than 90 days after such complaint was 
        filed, except for good cause shown.
    ``(f) Enforcement.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Commission shall enforce compliance 
        with this section under title V, except that--
                    ``(A) no forfeiture liability shall be determined 
                under section 503(b) against any person unless such 
                person receives the notice required by section 
                503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4); and
                    ``(B) the provisions of section 503(b)(5) shall not 
                apply.
            ``(2) Special orders.--In addition to any other remedy 
        provided under this Act, the Commission may issue any 
        appropriate order, including an order directing a broadband 
        service provider--
                    ``(A) to pay damages to a complaining party for a 
                violation of this section or the regulations hereunder; 
                or
                    ``(B) to enforce the provisions of this section.
    ``(g) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions 
shall apply:
            ``(1) Affiliated.--The term `affiliated' includes--
                    ``(A) a person that (directly or indirectly) owns 
                or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under 
                common ownership or control with, another person; or
                    ``(B) a person that has a contract or other 
                arrangement with a content, applications, or service 
                provider relating to access to or distribution of such 
                content, applications, or service.
            ``(2) Broadband service.--The term `broadband service' 
        means a 2-way transmission that--
                    ``(A) connects to the Internet regardless of the 
                physical transmission facilities used; and
                    ``(B) transmits information at an average rate of 
                at least 200 kilobits per second in at least 1 
                direction.
            ``(3) Broadband service provider.--The term `broadband 
        service provider' means a person or entity that controls, 
        operates, or resells and controls any facility used to provide 
        broadband service to the public, whether provided for a fee or 
        for free.
            ``(4) IP-enabled voice service.--The term `IP-enabled voice 
        service' means the provision of real-time 2-way voice 
        communications offered to the public, or such classes of users 
        as to be effectively available to the public, transmitted 
        through customer premises equipment using TCP/IP protocol, or a 
        successor protocol, for a fee (whether part of a bundle of 
        services or separately) with interconnection capability such 
        that service can originate traffic to, and terminate traffic 
        from, the public switched telephone network
            ``(5) User.--The term `user' means any residential or 
        business subscriber who, by way of a broadband service, takes 
        and utilizes Internet services, whether provided for a fee, in 
        exchange for an explicit benefit, or for free.''.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON DELIVERY OF CONTENT, APPLICATIONS, AND SERVICES.

    Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
and annually thereafter, the Federal Communications Commission shall 
transmit a report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
of the House of Representatives on the--
            (1) ability of providers of content, applications, or 
        services to transmit and send such information into and over 
        broadband networks;
            (2) ability of competing providers of transmission 
        capability to transmit and send such information into and over 
        broadband networks;
            (3) price, terms, and conditions for transmitting and 
        sending such information into and over broadband networks;
            (4) number of entities that transmit and send information 
        into and over broadband networks; and
            (5) state of competition among those entities that transmit 
        and send information into and over broadband networks.
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