II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1164

To provide for the enhanced protection of the privacy of location information

of users of location-based services and applications, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 11, 2001

Mr. EDWARDS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To provide for the enhanced protection of the privacy of

location information of users of location-based services

and applications, 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 ‘‘Location Privacy Pro5 tection Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) Location-based services and applications

9 allow customers to receive services based on their ge10 ographic location, position, or known presence.
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1 Telematics devices, for instance, permit subscribers

2 in vehicles to obtain emergency road assistance, driv3 ing directions, or other information with the push of

4 a button. Other devices, such as those with Internet

5 access, support position commerce in which notifica6 tion of points of interest or promotions can be pro7 vided to customers based on their known presence or

8 geographic location.

9 (2) There is a substantial Federal interest in

10 safeguarding the privacy right of customers of loca11 tion-based services or applications to control the col12 lection, use, retention of, disclosure of, and access to

13 their location information. Location information is

14 nonpublic information that can be misused to com15 mit fraud, to harass consumers with unwanted mes16 sages, to draw embarrassing or inaccurate inferences

17 about them, or to discriminate against them. Im18 proper disclosure of or access to location information

19 could also place a person in physical danger. For ex20 ample, location information could be misused by

21 stalkers or by domestic abusers.

22 (3) The collection or retention of unnecessary

23 location information magnifies the risk of its misuse

24 or improper disclosure.
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1 (4) Congress has recognized the right to privacy

2 of location information by classifying location infor3 mation as customer proprietary network information

4 subject to section 222 of the Communications Act of

5 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222), thereby preventing use or

6 disclosure of that information without a customer’s

7 express prior authorization.

8 (5) There is a substantial Federal interest in

9 promoting fair competition in the provision of wire10 less services and in ensuring the consumer con11 fidence necessary to ensure continued growth in the

12 use of wireless services. These goals can be attained

13 by establishing a set of privacy rules that apply to

14 wireless location information, regardless of tech15 nology, and to all entities and services that generate

16 or receive access to such information.

17 (6) It is in the public interest that the Federal

18 Communications Commission establish comprehen19 sive rules to protect the privacy of customers of loca20 tion-based services and applications and thereby en21 able customers to realize more fully the benefits of

22 location services and applications.
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1 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF LOCATION INFORMATION PRI2 VACY.

3 (a) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—Not later than 180

4 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed5 eral Communications Commission shall complete a rule6 making proceeding for purposes of further protecting the

7 privacy of location information.

8 (b) ELEMENTS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the provisions of

10 paragraph (2), the rules prescribed by the Commis11 sion under subsection (a) shall—

12 (A) require providers of location-based

13 services and applications to inform customers,

14 with clear and conspicuous notice, about their

15 policies on the collection, use, disclosure of, re16 tention of, and access to customer location in17 formation;

18 (B) require providers of location-based

19 services and applications to obtain a customer’s

20 express authorization before—

21 (i) collecting, using, or retaining the

22 customer’s location information; or

23 (ii) disclosing or permitting access to

24 the customer’s location information to any

25 person who is not a party to, or who is not

26 necessary to the performance of, the serv-
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1 ice contract between the customer and

2 such provider;

3 (C) require that all providers of location4 based services or applications—

5 (i) restrict any collection, use, disclo6 sure of, retention of, and access to cus7 tomer location information to the specific

8 purpose that is the subject of the express

9 authorization of the customer concerned;

10 and

11 (ii) not subsequently release a cus12 tomer’s location information for any pur13 pose beyond the purpose for which the cus14 tomer provided express authorization;

15 (D) ensure the security and integrity of lo16 cation data, and give customers reasonable ac17 cess to their location data for purposes of

18 verifying the accuracy of, or deleting, such data;

19 (E) be technology neutral to ensure uni20 form privacy rules and expectations and provide

21 the framework for fair competition among simi22 lar services;

23 (F) require that aggregated location infor24 mation not be disaggregated through any
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1 means into individual location information for

2 any commercial purpose; and

3 (G) not impede customers from readily uti4 lizing location-based services or applications.

5 (2) PERMITTED USES.—The rules prescribed

6 under subsection (a) may permit the collection, use,

7 retention, disclosure of, or access to a customer’s lo8 cation information without prior notice or consent to

9 the extent necessary to—

10 (A) provide the service from which such in11 formation is derived, or to provide the location12 based service that the customer is accessing;

13 (B) initiate, render, bill, and collect for the

14 location-based service or application;

15 (C) protect the rights or property of the

16 provider of the location-based service or applica17 tion, or protect customers of the service or ap18 plication from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful

19 use of, or subscription to, the service or applica20 tion;

21 (D) produce aggregate location informa22 tion; and

23 (E) comply with an appropriate court

24 order.
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1 (3) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—Under the

2 rules prescribed under subsection (a), any third

3 party receiving, or receiving access to, a customer’s

4 location information from a provider of location serv5 ices or applications pursuant to the express author6 ization of the customer, shall not disclose or permit

7 access to such information to any other person with8 out the express authorization of the customer.

9 (4) EXPRESS AUTHORIZATION.—

10 (A) FORM.—For purposes of the rules pre11 scribed under subsection (a) and section 222(f)

12 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

13 222(f)), the Commission shall specify the ap14 propriate methods, whether technological or

15 otherwise, by which a customer may provide ex16 press prior authorization. Such methods may

17 include a written or electronically signed service

18 agreement or other contractual instrument.

19 (B) MODIFICATION OR REVOCATION.—

20 Under the rules prescribed under subsection

21 (a), a customer shall have the power to modify

22 or revoke at any time an express authorization

23 given by the customer under the rules.

24 (c) APPLICATION OF RULES.—The rules prescribed

25 by the Commission under subsection (a) shall apply to any
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1 person that provides a location-based service or applica2 tion, whether or not such person is also a provider of com3 mercial mobile service (as that term is defined in section

4 332(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

5 332(d)).

6 (d) RELATIONSHIP TO WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

7 AND PUBLIC SAFETY ACT OF 1999.—The rules prescribed

8 by the Commission under subsection (a) shall be con9 sistent with the amendments to section 222 of the Com10 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222) made by section

11 5 of the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act

12 of 1999 (Public Law 106–81; 113 Stat. 1288), including

13 the provisions of section 222(d)(4) of the Communications

14 Act of 1934, as so amended, permitting use, disclosure,

15 and access to location information by public safety, fire

16 services, and other emergency services providers for pur17 poses specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of such

18 section 222(d)(4).

19 (e) STATE AND LOCAL REQUIREMENTS.—

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—No State or local govern21 ment may adopt or enforce any law, regulation, or

22 other legal requirement addressing the privacy of

23 wireless location information that is inconsistent

24 with the rules prescribed by the Commission under

25 subsection (a).
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1 (2) PREEMPTION.—Any law, regulation, or re2 quirement referred to in paragraph (1) that is in ef3 fect on the date of the enactment of this Act shall

4 be preempted and superseded as of the effective date

5 of the rules prescribed by the Commission under

6 subsection (a).

7 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

8 (1) AGGREGATE LOCATION INFORMATION.—The

9 term ‘‘aggregate location information’’ means a col10 lection of location data relating to a group or cat11 egory of customers from which individual customer

12 identities have been removed.

13 (2) CUSTOMER.—The term ‘‘customer’’, in the

14 case of the provision of a location-based service or

15 application with respect to a device, means the per16 son entering into the contract or agreement with the

17 provider of the location-based service or application

18 for provision of the location-based service or applica19 tion for the device.

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