IB 

Union Calendar No. 303 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5417 

[Report No. 109–541] 

To amend the Clayton Act with respect to competitive and nondiscriminatory 

access to the Internet. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 18, 2006 

Mr. SENSENBRENNER (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. BOUCHER, and Ms. 

ZOE LOFGREN of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

JUNE 29, 2006 

Additional sponsors: Mr. ANDREWS and Mr. VISCLOSKY

JUNE 29, 2006 

Reported with an amendment, 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 May 18, 2006] 

A BILL 

To amend the Clayton Act with respect to competitive and 

nondiscriminatory access to the Internet. 

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 ‘‘Internet Freedom and 

3 Nondiscrimination Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

5 The purposes of this Act are to promote competition, 

6 to facilitate trade, and to ensure competitive and non7 discriminatory access to the Internet. 

8 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE CLAYTON ACT. 

9 The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating section 28 as section 29, 

11 (2) by inserting after section 27 the following: 

12 ‘‘DISCRIMINATION BY BROADBAND NETWORK PROVIDERS

13 ‘‘SEC. 28. (a) It shall be unlawful for any broadband 

14 network provider— 

15 ‘‘(1) to fail to provide its broadband network 

16 services on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms 

17 and conditions such that any person can offer or pro18 vide content, applications, or services to or over the 

19 network in a manner that is at least equal to the 

20 manner in which the provider or its affiliates offer 

21 content, applications, and services, free of any sur22 charge on the basis of the content, application, or 

23 service; 

24 ‘‘(2) to refuse to interconnect its facilities with 

25 the facilities of another provider of broadband netVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:02 Jun 30, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5417.RH H5417

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1 work services on reasonable and nondiscriminatory 

2 terms or conditions; 

3 ‘‘(3)(A) to block, to impair, to discriminate 

4 against, or to interfere with the ability of any person 

5 to use a broadband network service to access, to use, 

6 to send, to receive, or to offer lawful content, applica7 tions or services over the Internet; or 

8 ‘‘(B) to impose an additional charge to avoid 

9 any conduct that is prohibited by this subsection; 

10 ‘‘(4) to prohibit a user from attaching or using 

11 a device on the provider’s network that does not phys12 ically damage or materially degrade other users’ utili13 zation of the network; or 

14 ‘‘(5) to fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose 

15 to users, in plain language, accurate information con16 cerning any terms, conditions, or limitations on the 

17 broadband network service. 

18 ‘‘(b) If a broadband network provider prioritizes or of19 fers enhanced quality of service to data of a particular type, 

20 it must prioritize or offer enhanced quality of service to 

21 all data of that type (regardless of the origin or ownership 

22 of such data) without imposing a surcharge or other consid23 eration for such prioritization or enhanced quality of serv24 ice. 


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1 ‘‘(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to pre2 vent a broadband network provider from taking reasonable 

3 and nondiscriminatory measures— 

4 ‘‘(1) to manage the functioning of its network, on 

5 a systemwide basis, provided that any such manage6 ment function does not result in discrimination be7 tween content, applications, or services offered by the 

8 provider and unaffiliated provider; 

9 ‘‘(2) to give priority to emergency communica10 tions; 

11 ‘‘(3) to prevent a violation of a Federal or State 

12 law, or to comply with an order of a court to enforce 

13 such law; 

14 ‘‘(4) to offer consumer protection services (such 

15 as parental controls), provided that a user may refuse 

16 or disable such services; 

17 ‘‘(5) to offer special promotional pricing or other 

18 marketing initiatives; or 

19 ‘‘(6) to prioritize or offer enhanced quality of 

20 service to all data of a particular type (regardless of 

21 the origin or ownership of such data) without impos22 ing a surcharge or other consideration for such 

23 prioritization or quality of service. 

24 ‘‘(d) For purposes of this section— 

25 ‘‘(1) the term ‘affiliate’ means— 


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

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

3 under the common ownership or control with an4 other person; or 

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

6 arrangement with a content or service provider 

7 concerning access to, or distribution of, such con8 tent or such service; 

9 ‘‘(2) the term ‘broadband network provider’ 

10 means a person engaged in commerce that owns, con11 trols, operates, or resells any facility used to provide 

12 broadband network service to the public, by whatever 

13 technology and without regard to whether provided 

14 for a fee, in exchange for an explicit benefit, or for 

15 free; 

16 ‘‘(3) the term ‘broadband network service’ means 

17 a 2-way transmission service that connects to the 

18 Internet and transmits information at an average 

19 rate of at least 200 kilobits per second in at least one 

20 direction, irrespective of whether such transmission is 

21 provided separately or as a component of another 

22 service; and 

23 ‘‘(4) the term ‘user’ means a person who takes 

24 and uses broadband network service, whether provided 


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1 for a fee, in exchange for an explicit benefit, or for 

2 free.’’, and 

3 (3) by amending subsection (a) and the 1st sen4 tence of subsection (b) of section 11 by striking ‘‘and 

5 8’’ and inserting ‘‘8, and 28’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 303 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5417 

[Report No. 109

–541] 

A BILL 

To amend the Clayton Act with respect to competitive and nondiscriminatory access to the Internet. 

JUNE 29, 2006 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS