II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4758 

To require reporting of suspicious transmissions in order to assist in criminal 

investigations and counterintelligence activities relating to international 

terrorism, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Mr. MANCHIN (for himself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require reporting of suspicious transmissions in order 

to assist in criminal investigations and counterintelligence activities relating to international terrorism, 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 ‘‘See Something, Say 

5 Something Online Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) section 230 of the Communications Act of 

2 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) (commonly known as the 

3 ‘‘Communications Decency Act of 1996’’) was never 

4 intended to provide legal protection for websites or 

5 interactive computer services that do nothing after 

6 becoming aware of instances of individuals or groups 

7 planning, committing, promoting, and facilitating 

8 terrorism, serious drug offenses, and violent crimes; 

9 (2) it is not the intent of this Act to remove or 

10 strip all liability protection from websites or inter11 active computer services that are proactively working 

12 to resolve these issues; and 

13 (3) should websites or interactive service pro14 viders fail to exercise due care in the implementa15 tion, filing of the suspicious transmission activity re16 ports, and reporting of major crimes, Congress in17 tends to look at removing liability protections under 

18 the Communications Decency Act of 1996 in its en19 tirety. 

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

23 means the Department of Justice. 

24 (2) INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE.—The 

25 term ‘‘interactive computer service’’ has the meaning 


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1 given the term in section 230 of the Communica2 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230). 

3 (3) KNOWN SUSPICIOUS TRANSMISSION.—The 

4 term ‘‘known suspicious transmission’’ is any sus5 picious transmission that an interactive computer 

6 service should have reasonably known to have oc7 curred or have been notified of by a director, officer, 

8 employee, agent, interactive computer service user, 

9 or State or Federal law enforcement agency. 

10 (4) MAJOR CRIME.—The term ‘‘major crime’’ 

11 means a Federal criminal offense— 

12 (A) that is a crime of violence (as defined 

13 in section 16 of title 18, United States Code); 

14 (B) relating to domestic or international 

15 terrorism (as those terms are defined in section 

16 2331 of title 18, United States Code); and 

17 (C) that is a serious drug offense (as de18 fined in section 924(e) of title 18, United 

19 States Code). 

20 (5) STAR.—The term ‘‘STAR’’ means a sus21 picious transmission activity report required to be 

22 submitted under section 3. 

23 (6) SUSPICIOUS TRANSMISSION.—The term 

24 ‘‘suspicious transmission’’ means any public or pri25 vate post, message, comment, tag, transaction, or 


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1 any other user-generated content or transmission 

2 that commits, facilitates, incites, promotes, or other3 wise assists the commission of a major crime. 

4 SEC. 4. REPORTING OF SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY. 

5 (a) MANDATORY REPORTING OF SUSPICIOUS TRANS6 MISSIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a provider of an inter8 active computer service detects a suspicious trans9 mission, the interactive computer service, including 

10 any director, officer, employee, agent, or representa11 tive of such provider, shall submit to the Depart12 ment a STAR describing the suspicious transmission 

13 in accordance with this section. 

14 (2) REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

16 subparagraph (C), a STAR required to be sub17 mitted under paragraph (1) shall be submitted 

18 not later than 30 days after the date on which 

19 the interactive computer service— 

20 (i) initially detects the suspicious 

21 transmission; or 

22 (ii) is alerted to the suspicious trans23 mission on the platform of such service. 

24 (B) IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION.—In the 

25 case of a suspicious transmission that requires 


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1 immediate attention, such as an active sale or 

2 solicitation of sale of drugs or a threat of ter3 rorist activity, the provider of an interactive 

4 computer service shall— 

5 (i) immediately notify, by telephone, 

6 an appropriate law enforcement authority; 

7 and 

8 (ii) file a STAR in accordance with 

9 this section. 

10 (C) DELAY OF SUBMISSION.—The 30-day 

11 period described in subparagraph (A) may be 

12 extended by 30 days if the provider of an inter13 active computer service provides a valid reason 

14 to the agency designated or established under 

15 subsection (b)(2). 

16 (b) REPORTING PROCESS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

18 establish a process by which a provider of an inter19 active computer service may submit STARs under 

20 this section. 

21 (2) DESIGNATED AGENCY.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this 

23 section, the Attorney General shall designate an 

24 agency within the Department, or, if the Attor25 ney General determines appropriate, establish a 


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1 new agency within the Department, to which 

2 STARs should be submitted under subsection 

3 (a). 

4 (B) CONSUMER REPORTING.—The agency 

5 designated or established under subparagraph 

6 (A) shall establish a centralized online resource, 

7 which may be used by individual members of 

8 the public to report suspicious activity related 

9 to major crimes for investigation by the appro10 priate law enforcement or regulatory agency. 

11 (C) COOPERATION WITH INDUSTRY.—The 

12 agency designated or established under sub13 paragraph (A)— 

14 (i) may conduct training for enforce15 ment agencies and for providers of inter16 active computer services on how to cooper17 ate in reporting suspicious activity; 

18 (ii) may develop relationships for pro19 motion of reporting mechanisms and re20 sources available on the centralized online 

21 resource required to be established under 

22 subparagraph (B); and 

23 (iii) shall coordinate with the National 

24 White Collar Crime Center to convene ex25 perts to design training programs for State 


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1 and local law enforcement agencies, which 

2 may include using social media, online ads, 

3 paid placements, and partnering with ex4 pert nonprofit organizations to promote 

5 awareness and engage with the public. 

6 (c) CONTENTS.—Each STAR submitted under this 

7 section shall contain, at a minimum— 

8 (1) the name, location, and other such identi9 fication information as submitted by the user to the 

10 provider of the interactive computer service; 

11 (2) the date and nature of the post, message, 

12 comment, tag, transaction, or other user-generated 

13 content or transmission detected for suspicious activ14 ity such as time, origin, and destination; and 

15 (3) any relevant text, information, and 

16 metadata related to the suspicious transmission. 

17 (d) RETENTION OF RECORDS AND NONDISCLO18 SURE.— 

19 (1) RETENTION OF RECORDS.—Each provider 

20 of an interactive computer service shall— 

21 (A) maintain a copy of any STAR sub22 mitted under this section and the original 

23 record equivalent of any supporting documenta24 tion for the 5-year period beginning on the date 

25 on which the STAR was submitted; 


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1 (B) make all supporting documentation 

2 available to the Department and any appro3 priate law enforcement agencies upon request; 

4 and 

5 (C) not later than 30 days after the date 

6 on which the interactive computer service sub7 mits a STAR under this section, take action 

8 against the website or account reported unless 

9 the provider of an interactive computer service 

10 receives a notification from a law enforcement 

11 agency that the website or account should re12 main open. 

13 (2) NONDISCLOSURE.—Except as otherwise 

14 prescribed by the Attorney General, no provider of 

15 an interactive computer service, or officer, director, 

16 employee, or agent of such a provider, subject to an 

17 order under subsection (a) may disclose the exist18 ence of, or terms of, the order to any person. 

19 (e) DISCLOSURE TO OTHER AGENCIES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

21 the Attorney General shall— 

22 (A) ensure that STARs submitted under 

23 this section and reports from the public sub24 mitted under subsection (b)(2)(B) are referred 


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1 as necessary to the appropriate Federal, State, 

2 or local law enforcement or regulatory agency; 

3 (B) make information in a STAR sub4 mitted under this section available to an agen5 cy, including any State financial institutions su6 pervisory agency or United States intelligence 

7 agency, upon request of the head of the agency; 

8 and 

9 (C) develop a strategy to disseminate rel10 evant information in a STAR submitted under 

11 this section in a timely manner to other law en12 forcement and government agencies, as appro13 priate, and coordinate with relevant nongovern14 mental entities, such as the National Center for 

15 Missing and Exploited Children. 

16 (2) LIMITATION.—The Attorney General may 

17 only make a STAR available under paragraph (1) 

18 for law enforcement purposes. 

19 (f) COMPLIANCE.—Any provider of an interactive 

20 computer service that fails to report a known suspicious 

21 transmission shall not be immune from civil or criminal 

22 liability for such transmission under section 230(c) of the 

23 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)). 

24 (g) APPLICATION OF FOIA.—Any STAR submitted 

25 under this section, and any information therein or record 


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1 thereof, shall be exempt from disclosure under section 552 

2 of title 5, United States Code, or any similar State, local, 

3 Tribal, or territorial law. 

4 (h) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.—Not later than 180 

5 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

6 General shall promulgate regulations to carry out this sec7 tion. 

8 (i) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall sub10 mit to Congress a report describing the plan of the De11 partment for implementation of this Act, including a 

12 breakdown of the costs associated with implementation. 

13 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 

15 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

16 SEC. 5. AMENDMENT TO COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT. 

17 Section 230(e) of the Communications Act of 1934 

18 (47 U.S.C. 230(e)) is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(6) LOSS OF LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR

21 FAILURE TO SUBMIT SUSPICIOUS TRANSMISSION AC22 TIVITY REPORT.— 

23 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—Any provider of an 

24 interactive computer service shall take reason25 able steps to prevent or address unlawful users 


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1 of the service through the reporting of sus2 picious transmissions. 

3 ‘‘(B) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Any provider 

4 of an interactive computer service that fails to 

5 report a known suspicious transmission may be 

6 held liable as a publisher for the related sus7 picious transmission. 

8 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

9 in this paragraph shall be construed to impair 

10 or limit any claim or cause of action arising 

11 from the failure of a provider of an interactive 

12 computer service to report a suspicious trans13 mission.’’. 

Æ 


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