IB 

Union Calendar No. 213 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1319 

[Report No. 111–361] 

To prevent the inadvertent disclosure of information on a computer through 

the use of certain ‘‘peer-to-peer’’ file sharing software without first providing notice and obtaining consent from the owner or authorized user 

of the computer. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 5, 2009 

Mrs. BONO MACK (for herself, Mr. BARROW, and Mr. BARTON of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

DECEMBER 8, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. 

GONZALEZ, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. SPACE, Mr. 

STUPAK, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. DONNELLY of 

Indiana, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. BOREN, Mr. GRAYSON, 

Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, 

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. HILL, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. SCOTT of 

Georgia, Mr. CLAY, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. WEINER, Mr. PERLMUTTER, 

Mr. CHILDERS, Mr. TANNER, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. ISSA, Mrs. BLACKBURN, 

and Mr. RADANOVICH

DECEMBER 8, 2009 

Deleted sponsor: Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California (added March 16, 2009; 

deleted March 26, 2009) 

DECEMBER 8, 2009 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 5, 2009] 


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•HR 1319 RH

A BILL 

To prevent the inadvertent disclosure of information on a 

computer through the use of certain ‘‘peer-to-peer’’ file 

sharing software without first providing notice and obtaining consent from the owner or authorized user of 

the computer. 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
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•HR 1319 RH

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 ‘‘Informed P2P User 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONDUCT PROHIBITED. 

7 (a) NOTICE AND CONSENT REQUIRED FOR FILE-SHAR8 ING SOFTWARE.— 

9 (1) NOTICE AND CONSENT REQUIRED PRIOR TO

10 INSTALLATION.—It is unlawful for any covered entity 

11 to install on a protected computer or offer or make 

12 available for installation or download on a protected 

13 computer a covered file-sharing program unless such 

14 program— 

15 (A) immediately prior to the installation or 

16 downloading of such program— 

17 (i) provides clear and conspicuous no18 tice that such program allows files on the 

19 protected computer to be made available for 

20 searching and copying to one or more other 

21 computers; and 

22 (ii) obtains the informed consent to the 

23 installation of such program from an owner 

24 or authorized user of the protected com25 puter; and 


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1 (B) immediately prior to initial activation 

2 of a file-sharing function of such program— 

3 (i) provides clear and conspicuous no4 tice of which files on the protected computer 

5 are to be made available for searching and 

6 copying to another computer; and 

7 (ii) obtains the informed consent from 

8 an owner or authorized user of the protected 

9 computer for such files to be made available 

10 for searching and copying to another com11 puter. 

12 (2) NON-APPLICATION TO PRE-INSTALLED SOFT13 WARE.—Nothing in subparagraph (A) shall apply to 

14 the installation of a covered file-sharing program on 

15 a computer prior to the first sale of such computer to 

16 an end user, provided that notice is provided to the 

17 end user who first purchases the computer that such 

18 a program has been installed on the computer. 

19 (b) PREVENTING THE DISABLING OR REMOVAL OF

20 CERTAIN SOFTWARE.—It is unlawful for any covered enti21 ty— 

22 (1) to prevent the reasonable efforts of an owner 

23 or authorized user of a protected computer from block24 ing the installation of a covered file-sharing program 

25 or file-sharing function thereof; or 


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

2 protected computer from having a reasonable means 

3 to either— 

4 (A) disable from the protected computer any 

5 covered file-sharing program; or 

6 (B) remove from the protected computer any 

7 covered file-sharing program that the covered en8 tity caused to be installed on that computer or 

9 induced another individual to install. 

10 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 

11 (a) UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES.— 

12 A violation of section 2 shall be treated as a violation of 

13 a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice pre14 scribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade 

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

16 (b) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ENFORCEMENT.— 

17 The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the 

18 same manner, by the same means, and with the same juris19 diction as though all applicable terms and provisions of the 

20 Federal Trade Commission Act were incorporated into and 

21 made a part of this Act. 

22 (c) PRESERVATION OF FEDERAL AND STATE AUTHOR23 ITY.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or su24 persede 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 enti4 ty engaged in acts or practices in or affecting com5 merce, as such term is defined in section 4 of the Fed6 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44); 

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

8 (A) a commercial entity that develops a cov9 ered file-sharing program; and 

10 (B) a commercial entity that disseminates 

11 or distributes a covered file-sharing program and 

12 is owned or operated by the commercial entity 

13 that developed the covered file-sharing program; 

14 (3) the term ‘‘protected computer’’ has the mean15 ing given such term in section 1030(e)(2) of title 18, 

16 United States Code; and 

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

18 (A) means a program, application, or soft19 ware that is commercially marketed or distrib20 uted to the public and that enables— 

21 (i) a file or files on the computer on 

22 which such program is installed to be des23 ignated as available for searching and copy24 ing to one or more other computers; 

25 (ii) the searching of files on the com26 puter on which such program is installed 


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1 and the copying of any such file to another 

2 computer— 

3 (I) at the initiative of such other 

4 computer and without requiring any 

5 action by an owner or authorized user 

6 of the computer on which such pro7 gram is installed; and 

8 (II) without requiring an owner 

9 or authorized user of the computer on 

10 which such program is installed to 

11 have selected or designated another 

12 computer as the recipient of any such 

13 file; and 

14 (iii) an owner or authorized user of the 

15 computer on which such program is in16 stalled to search files on one or more other 

17 computers using the same or a compatible 

18 program, application, or software, and copy 

19 such files to such owner or user’s computer; 

20 and 

21 (B) does not include a program, applica22 tion, or software designed primarily to— 

23 (i) operate as a server that is accessible 

24 over the Internet using the Internet Domain 

25 Name system; 


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1 (ii) transmit or receive email messages, 

2 instant messaging, real-time audio or video 

3 communications, or real-time voice commu4 nications; or 

5 (iii) provide network or computer secu6 rity, network management, maintenance, 

7 diagnostics, technical support or repair, or 

8 to detect or prevent fraudulent activities. 

9 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

10 The Federal Trade Commission may promulgate regu11 lations under section 553 of title 5, United States Code to 

12 accomplish the purposes of this Act. In promulgating rules 

13 under this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall not re14 quire the deployment or use of any specific products or tech15 nologies. 

16 SEC. 6. NONAPPLICATION TO GOVERNMENT. 

17 The prohibition in section 2 of this Act shall not apply 

18 to the Federal Government or any instrumentality of the 

19 Federal Government, nor to any State government or gov20 ernment of a subdivision of a State. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill 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.’’. 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS

hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 213 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1319 

[Report No. 111–361] 

A BILL 

To prevent the inadvertent disclosure of informaowner or authorized user of the computer. providing notice and obtaining consent from the ‘‘peer-to-peer’’ file sharing software without first tion on a computer through the use of certain 

DECEMBER 8, 2009 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

dered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and orVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:08 Dec 08, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H1319.RH H1319

hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with BILLS