II 

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. 

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 ‘‘Internet Freedom 

5 Preservation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INTERNET NEUTRALITY. 

7 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

8 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
2 

•S 2917 IS

1 ‘‘SEC. 12. INTERNET NEUTRALITY. 

2 ‘‘(a) DUTY OF BROADBAND SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 

3 With respect to any broadband service offered to the pub4 lic, each broadband service provider shall— 

5 ‘‘(1) not block, interfere with, discriminate 

6 against, impair, or degrade the ability of any person 

7 to use a broadband service to access, use, send, post, 

8 receive, or offer any lawful content, application, or 

9 service made available via the Internet; 

10 ‘‘(2) not prevent or obstruct a user from at11 taching or using any device to the network of such 

12 broadband service provider, only if such device does 

13 not physically damage or substantially degrade the 

14 use of such network by other subscribers; 

15 ‘‘(3) provide and make available to each user 

16 information about such user’s access to the Internet, 

17 and the speed, nature, and limitations of such user’s 

18 broadband service; 

19 ‘‘(4) enable any content, application, or service 

20 made available via the Internet to be offered, pro21 vided, or posted on a basis that— 

22 ‘‘(A) is reasonable and nondiscriminatory, 

23 including with respect to quality of service, ac24 cess, speed, and bandwidth; 

25 ‘‘(B) is at least equivalent to the access, 

26 speed, quality of service, and bandwidth that 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
3 

•S 2917 IS

1 such broadband service provider offers to affili2 ated content, applications, or services made 

3 available via the public Internet into the net4 work of such broadband service provider; and 

5 ‘‘(C) does not impose a charge on the basis 

6 of the type of content, applications, or services 

7 made available via the Internet into the network 

8 of such broadband service provider; 

9 ‘‘(5) only prioritize content, applications, or 

10 services accessed by a user that is made available via 

11 the Internet within the network of such broadband 

12 service provider based on the type of content, appli13 cations, or services and the level of service purchased 

14 by the user, without charge for such prioritization; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(6) not install or utilize network features, 

17 functions, or capabilities that impede or hinder com18 pliance with this section. 

19 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS-RE20 LATED PRACTICES.—Nothing in this section shall be con21 strued to prohibit a broadband service provider from en22 gaging in any activity, provided that such activity is not 

23 inconsistent with the requirements of subsection (a), in24 cluding— 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
4 

•S 2917 IS

1 ‘‘(1) protecting the security of a user’s com2 puter on the network of such broadband service pro3 vider, or managing such network in a manner that 

4 does not distinguish based on the source or owner5 ship of content, application, or service; 

6 ‘‘(2) offering directly to each user broadband 

7 service that does not distinguish based on the source 

8 or ownership of content, application, or service, at 

9 different prices based on defined levels of bandwidth 

10 or the actual quantity of data flow over a user’s con11 nection; 

12 ‘‘(3) offering consumer protection services (in13 cluding parental controls for indecency or unwanted 

14 content, software for the prevention of unsolicited 

15 commercial electronic messages, or other similar ca16 pabilities), if each user is provided clear and accu17 rate advance notice of the ability of such user to 

18 refuse or disable individually provided consumer pro19 tection capabilities; 

20 ‘‘(4) handling breaches of the terms of service 

21 offered by such broadband service provider by a sub22 scriber, provided that such terms of service are not 

23 inconsistent with the requirements of subsection (a); 

24 or 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
5 

•S 2917 IS

1 ‘‘(5) where otherwise required by law, to pre2 vent any violation of Federal or State law. 

3 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION.—Nothing in this section shall apply 

4 to any service regulated under title VI, regardless of the 

5 physical transmission facilities used to provide or transmit 

6 such service. 

7 ‘‘(d) STAND-ALONE BROADBAND SERVICE.—A 

8 broadband service provider shall not require a subscriber, 

9 as a condition on the purchase of any broadband service 

10 offered by such broadband service provider, to purchase 

11 any cable service, telecommunications service, or IP-en12 abled voice service. 

13 ‘‘(e) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 180 days 

14 after the date of enactment of the Internet Freedom Pres15 ervation Act, the Commission shall prescribe rules to im16 plement this section that— 

17 ‘‘(1) permit any aggrieved person to file a com18 plaint with the Commission concerning any violation 

19 of this section; and 

20 ‘‘(2) establish enforcement and expedited adju21 dicatory review procedures consistent with the objec22 tives of this section, including the resolution of any 

23 complaint described in paragraph (1) not later than 

24 90 days after such complaint was filed, except for 

25 good cause shown. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
6 

•S 2917 IS

1 ‘‘(f) ENFORCEMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall en3 force compliance with this section under title V, ex4 cept that— 

5 ‘‘(A) no forfeiture liability shall be deter6 mined under section 503(b) against any person 

7 unless such person receives the notice required 

8 by section 503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4); and 

9 ‘‘(B) the provisions of section 503(b)(5) 

10 shall not apply. 

11 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL ORDERS.—In addition to any 

12 other remedy provided under this Act, the Commis13 sion may issue any appropriate order, including an 

14 order directing a broadband service provider— 

15 ‘‘(A) to pay damages to a complaining 

16 party for a violation of this section or the regu17 lations hereunder; or 

18 ‘‘(B) to enforce the provisions of this sec19 tion. 

20 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

21 definitions shall apply: 

22 ‘‘(1) AFFILIATED.—The term ‘affiliated’ in23 cludes— 

24 ‘‘(A) a person that (directly or indirectly) 

25 owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
7 

•S 2917 IS

1 is under common ownership or control with, an2 other person; or 

3 ‘‘(B) a person that has a contract or other 

4 arrangement with a content, applications, or 

5 service provider relating to access to or dis6 tribution of such content, applications, or serv7 ice. 

8 ‘‘(2) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 

9 ‘broadband service’ means a 2-way transmission 

10 that— 

11 ‘‘(A) connects to the Internet regardless of 

12 the physical transmission facilities used; and 

13 ‘‘(B) transmits information at an average 

14 rate of at least 200 kilobits per second in at 

15 least 1 direction. 

16 ‘‘(3) BROADBAND SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 

17 term ‘broadband service provider’ means a person or 

18 entity that controls, operates, or resells and controls 

19 any facility used to provide broadband service to the 

20 public, whether provided for a fee or for free. 

21 ‘‘(4) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.—The term 

22 ‘IP-enabled voice service’ means the provision of 

23 real-time 2-way voice communications offered to the 

24 public, or such classes of users as to be effectively 

25 available to the public, transmitted through cusVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:00 May 23, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2917.IS S2917

bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
8 

•S 2917 IS

1 tomer premises equipment using TCP/IP protocol, 

2 or a successor protocol, for a fee (whether part of 

3 a bundle of services or separately) with interconnec4 tion capability such that service can originate traffic 

5 to, and terminate traffic from, the public switched 

6 telephone network 

7 ‘‘(5) USER.—The term ‘user’ means any resi8 dential or business subscriber who, by way of a 

9 broadband service, takes and utilizes Internet serv10 ices, whether provided for a fee, in exchange for an 

11 explicit benefit, or for free.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. REPORT ON DELIVERY OF CONTENT, APPLICA13 TIONS, AND SERVICES. 

14 Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment 

15 of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Federal Commu16 nications Commission shall transmit a report to the Com17 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

18 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

19 the House of Representatives on the— 

20 (1) ability of providers of content, applications, 

21 or services to transmit and send such information 

22 into and over broadband networks; 

23 (2) ability of competing providers of trans24 mission capability to transmit and send such infor25 mation into and over broadband networks; 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS
9 

•S 2917 IS

1 (3) price, terms, and conditions for transmit2 ting and sending such information into and over 

3 broadband networks; 

4 (4) number of entities that transmit and send 

5 information into and over broadband networks; and 

6 (5) state of competition among those entities 

7 that transmit and send information into and over 

8 broadband networks. 

Æ 


bajohnson on PROD1PC72 with BILLS