I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2077 

To prohibit employers from compelling or coercing any person to authorize 

access to a protected computer, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2013 

Mr. PERLMUTTER (for himself, Mr. WELCH, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. RICHMOND, 

Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. KEATING, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. RUSH, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. COFFMAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

HOLT, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. 

SHEA-PORTER, Mr. POLIS, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. ENYART, Ms. PINGREE of 

Maine, Mr. CLAY, Mr. COHEN, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. TONKO, Ms. MICHELLE

LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. DOYLE, and Ms. HAHN) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit employers from compelling or coercing any person to authorize access to a protected computer, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Password Protection 

5 Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITED ACTIVITY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1030(a) of title 18, 

3 United States Code, is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (7)(C), by inserting ‘‘or’’ after 

5 the semicolon; and 

6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (7)(C) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(8) acting as an employer, knowingly and in9 tentionally— 

10 ‘‘(A) for the purposes of employing, pro11 moting, or terminating employment, compels or 

12 coerces any person to authorize access, such as 

13 by providing a password or similar information 

14 through which a computer may be accessed, to 

15 a protected computer that is not the employer’s 

16 protected computer, and thereby obtains infor17 mation from such protected computer; or 

18 ‘‘(B) discharges, disciplines, discriminates 

19 against in any manner, or threatens to take any 

20 such action against, any person— 

21 ‘‘(I) for failing to authorize access de22 scribed in subparagraph (A) to a protected 

23 computer that is not the employer’s pro24 tected computer; or 

25 ‘‘(ii) who has filed any complaint or 

26 instituted or caused to be instituted any 


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1 proceeding under or related to this para2 graph, or has testified or is about to testify 

3 in any such proceeding;’’. 

4 (b) FINE.—Section 1030(c) of title 18, United States 

5 Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (4)(G)(ii), by striking the pe7 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(5) a fine under this title, in the case of an 

10 offense under subsection (a)(8) or an attempt to 

11 commit an offense punishable under this para12 graph.’’. 

13 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1030(e) of title 18, 

14 United States Code, is amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

16 the semicolon; 

17 (2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period 

18 and inserting a semicolon; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(13) the term ‘employee’ means an employee, 

21 as such term is defined in section 201(2) of the Ge22 netic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 

23 2000ff(2)); 

24 ‘‘(14) the term ‘employer’ means an employer, 

25 as such term is defined in such section 201(2); and 


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1 ‘‘(15) the term ‘employer’s protected computer’ 

2 means a protected computer of the employer, includ3 ing any protected computer owned, operated, or oth4 erwise controlled by, for, or on behalf of that em5 ployer.’’. 

6 (d) EXCEPTIONS.—Section 1030(f) of title 18, 

7 United States Code, is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘(f) This’’ and inserting ‘‘(f)(1) 

9 This’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(2)(A) Nothing in subsection (a)(8) shall be con12 strued to limit the authority of a court of competent juris13 diction to grant equitable relief in a civil action, if the 

14 court determines that there are specific and articulable 

15 facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe 

16 that the information sought to be obtained is relevant and 

17 material to protecting the intellectual property, a trade se18 cret, or confidential business information of the party 

19 seeking the relief. 

20 ‘‘(B) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(8), the prohibi21 tion in such subsection shall not apply to an employer’s 

22 actions if— 

23 ‘‘(I) the employer discharges or otherwise dis24 ciplines an individual for good cause and an activity 

25 protected under subsection (a)(8) is not a motivating 


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1 factor for the discharge or discipline of the indi2 vidual; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the employer is complying with the re4 quirements of Federal or State law, rule or regula5 tion, or a rule of a self-regulatory organization, as 

6 defined in section 3(a)(26) of the Securities and Ex7 change Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(26)), applica8 ble to brokers, dealers and investment advisers; 

9 ‘‘(iii) a State enacts a law that specifically 

10 waives subsection (a)(8) with respect to a particular 

11 class of State government employees or employees 

12 who work with individuals under 13 years of age, 

13 and the employer’s action relates to an employee in 

14 such class; or 

15 ‘‘(iv) an Executive agency (as defined in section 

16 105 of title 5), a military department (as defined in 

17 section 102 of such title), or any other entity within 

18 the executive branch that comes into the possession 

19 of classified information, including the Defense In20 telligence Agency, National Security Agency, and 

21 National Reconnaissance Office, specifically waives 

22 subsection (a)(8) with respect to a particular class 

23 of employees requiring eligibility for access to classi24 fied information under Executive Order 12968 (60 

25 Fed. Reg. 40245), or any successor thereto, and the 


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1 employer’s action relates to an employee in such 

2 class.’’. 

Æ 


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