IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1319 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2009 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To prevent the inadvertent disclosure of information on a 

computer through certain ‘‘peer-to-peer’’ file sharing programs without first providing notice and obtaining consent from an owner or authorized user of the computer. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Informed P2P User 

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CONDUCT PROHIBITED. 

5 (a) NOTICE AND CONSENT REQUIRED FOR FILE6 SHARING SOFTWARE.— 

7 (1) NOTICE AND CONSENT REQUIRED PRIOR TO

8 INSTALLATION.—It is unlawful for any covered enti9 ty to install on a protected computer or offer or 

10 make available for installation or download on a pro11 tected computer a covered file-sharing program un12 less such program— 

13 (A) immediately prior to the installation or 

14 downloading of such program— 

15 (i) provides clear and conspicuous no16 tice that such program allows files on the 

17 protected computer to be made available 

18 for searching by and copying to one or 

19 more other computers; and 

20 (ii) obtains the informed consent to 

21 the installation of such program from an 

22 owner or authorized user of the protected 

23 computer; and 

24 (B) immediately prior to initial activation 

25 of a file-sharing function of such program— 


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1 (i) provides clear and conspicuous no2 tice of which files on the protected com3 puter are to be made available for search4 ing by and copying to another computer; 

5 and 

6 (ii) obtains the informed consent from 

7 an owner or authorized user of the pro8 tected computer for such files to be made 

9 available for searching and copying to an10 other computer. 

11 (2) NON-APPLICATION TO PRE-INSTALLED

12 SOFTWARE.—Nothing in paragraph (1)(A) shall 

13 apply to the installation of a covered file-sharing 

14 program on a computer prior to the first sale of 

15 such computer to an end user, provided that notice 

16 is provided to the end user who first purchases the 

17 computer that such a program has been installed on 

18 the computer. 

19 (3) NON-APPLICATION TO SOFTWARE UP20 GRADES.—Once the notice and consent requirements 

21 of paragraphs (1)(A) and (1)(B) have been satisfied 

22 with respect to the installation or initial activation 

23 of a covered file-sharing program on a protected 

24 computer after the effective date of this Act, the no25 tice and consent requirements of paragraphs (1)(A) 


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1 and (1)(B) do not apply to the installation or initial 

2 activation of software modifications or upgrades to 

3 a covered file-sharing program installed on that pro4 tected computer at the time of the software modi5 fications or upgrades so long as those software 

6 modifications or upgrades do not— 

7 (A) make files on the protected computer 

8 available for searching by and copying to one or 

9 more other computers that were not already 

10 made available by the covered file-sharing pro11 gram for searching by and copying to one or 

12 more other computers; or 

13 (B) add to the types or locations of files 

14 that can be made available by the covered file15 sharing program for searching by and copying 

16 to one or more other computers. 

17 (b) PREVENTING THE DISABLING OR REMOVAL OF

18 CERTAIN SOFTWARE.—It is unlawful for any covered enti19 ty— 

20 (1) to prevent the reasonable efforts of an 

21 owner or authorized user of a protected computer 

22 from blocking the installation of a covered file-shar23 ing program or file-sharing function thereof; or 


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1 (2) to prevent an owner or authorized user of 

2 a protected computer from having a reasonable 

3 means to either— 

4 (A) disable from the protected computer 

5 any covered file-sharing program; or 

6 (B) remove from the protected computer 

7 any covered file-sharing program that the cov8 ered entity caused to be installed on that com9 puter or induced another individual to install. 

10 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 

11 (a) UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRAC12 TICES.—A violation of section 2 shall be treated as a viola13 tion of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or prac14 tice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 

15 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

16 (b) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ENFORCE17 MENT.—The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this 

18 Act in the same manner, by the same means, and with 

19 the same jurisdiction as though all applicable terms and 

20 provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act were in21 corporated into and made a part of this Act. 

22 (c) PRESERVATION OF FEDERAL AND STATE AU23 THORITY.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit 

24 or supersede any other Federal or State law. 


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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

2 As used in this Act— 

3 (1) the term ‘‘commercial entity’’ means an en4 tity engaged in acts or practices in or affecting com5 merce, as such term is defined in section 4 of the 

6 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44); 

7 (2) the term ‘‘covered entity’’ means— 

8 (A) a commercial entity that develops a 

9 covered file-sharing program; and 

10 (B) a commercial entity that disseminates 

11 or distributes a covered file-sharing program 

12 and is owned or operated by the commercial en13 tity that developed the covered file-sharing pro14 gram; 

15 (3) the term ‘‘protected computer’’ has the 

16 meaning given such term in section 1030(e)(2) of 

17 title 18, United States Code; and 

18 (4) the term ‘‘covered file-sharing program’’— 

19 (A) means a program, application, or soft20 ware that is commercially marketed or distrib21 uted to the public and that enables— 

22 (i) a file or files on the protected com23 puter on which such program is installed 

24 to be designated as available for searching 

25 by and copying to one or more other com26 puters owned by another person; 


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1 (ii) the searching of files on the pro2 tected computer on which such program is 

3 installed and the copying of any such file 

4 to a computer owned by another person— 

5 (I) at the initiative of such other 

6 computer and without requiring any 

7 action by an owner or authorized user 

8 of the protected computer on which 

9 such program is installed; and 

10 (II) without requiring an owner 

11 or authorized user of the protected 

12 computer on which such program is 

13 installed to have selected or des14 ignated a computer owned by another 

15 person as the recipient of any such 

16 file; and 

17 (iii) the protected computer on which 

18 such program is installed to search files on 

19 one or more other computers owned by an20 other person using the same or a compat21 ible program, application, or software, and 

22 to copy files from the other computer to 

23 such protected computer; and 

24 (B) does not include a program, applica25 tion, or software designed primarily to— 


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1 (i) operate as a server that is acces2 sible over the Internet using the Internet 

3 Domain Name system; 

4 (ii) transmit or receive email mes5 sages, instant messaging, real-time audio 

6 or video communications, or real-time voice 

7 communications; or 

8 (iii) provide network or computer se9 curity, network management, hosting and 

10 backup services, maintenance, diagnostics, 

11 technical support or repair, or to detect or 

12 prevent fraudulent activities; and 

13 (5) the term ‘‘initial activation of a file-sharing 

14 function’’ means— 

15 (A) the first time the file sharing function 

16 of a covered file-sharing program is activated 

17 on a protected computer; and 

18 (B) does not include subsequent uses of 

19 the program on that protected computer. 

20 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

21 The Federal Trade Commission may promulgate reg22 ulations under section 553 of title 5, United States Code 

23 to accomplish the purposes of this Act. In promulgating 

24 rules under this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall 


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1 not require the deployment or use of any specific products 

2 or technologies. 

3 SEC. 6. NONAPPLICATION TO GOVERNMENT. 

4 The prohibition in section 2 of this Act shall not 

5 apply to the Federal Government or any instrumentality 

6 of the Federal Government, nor to any State government 

7 or government of a subdivision of a State. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 8, 

2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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