[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 165 (Thursday, December 20, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S8303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN:
  S. 3703. A bill to improve the ability of consumers to control their 
digital data usage, promote Internet use, and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation which 
promotes innovation and the expansion of the digital economy.
  Every day, each and every American grows increasingly reliant on the 
Internet. We use it at work, at home at school, and on the go. The 
Internet has changed the way we communicate, the way we share and 
speak, and it is transforming our economy.
  As the Internet becomes increasingly important to American consumers, 
businesses and innovators, Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, are 
increasingly imposing caps on the amount of data that consumers may 
move over the Net. Unfortunately, because of a lack of competition in 
Internet broadband services, the imposition of data caps raises a 
public policy concern. Data caps are appropriate if they are carefully 
constructed to manage network congestion but as the New York Times has 
editorialized, they ``should not just be a way for Internet providers 
to extract monopoly rents.'' The imposition of data caps also risks 
undermining online competition and innovation as the market for digital 
goods and services expands.
  In order to empower consumers to better manage their data usage and 
promote online innovation, I am sponsoring the Data Cap Integrity Act. 
This bill will give consumers the tools they need to manage their own 
data usage, institute industry-wide data measurement accuracy standards 
for ISPs, and impose disciplines to ensure that ISPs' data caps are 
truly designed to manage network congestion.
  The Data Measurement Integrity Act requires the Federal 
Communications Commission, or FCC, to establish standards for how ISPs 
measure data and make certain that data caps are designed to manage 
network congestion rather than monetize data in ways that undermine 
online innovation. Furthermore, this bill ensures that consumers are 
provided tools to manage their data consumption and that ISPs cannot 
for purposes of measuring data, discriminate against any content.
  Internet use is central to our lives and to our economy. Future 
innovation will undoubtedly require consumers to use more and more 
data, data caps should not impede this innovation and the jobs it 
creates.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues and stakeholders to 
discuss this legislation, consider improvements to it, and work toward 
its adoption into law.
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