II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3703 

To improve the ability of consumers to control their digital data usage, 

promote Internet use, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 20, 2012 

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

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve the ability of consumers to control their digital 

data usage, promote Internet use, 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 ‘‘Data Cap Integrity 

5 Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TRUTH-IN-LABELING REQUIREMENTS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Commu8 nications Commission should continue its work to ensure 

9 that consumers of Internet services are clearly and conVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:40 Dec 28, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3703.IS S3703

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1 sistently provided information that describes the services 

2 they are purchasing, including— 

3 (1) the cost of the services they are purchasing; 

4 (2) the rate of the upload and download speed 

5 that the consumer is paying for; 

6 (3) service limits the Internet service provider 

7 establishes for purposes of network management, in8 cluding bandwidth throttling or rate limiting; 

9 (4) contract term; and 

10 (5) legal and privacy policies. 

11 SEC. 3. MANAGING BROADBAND CONGESTION. 

12 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

13 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 

14 Communications Commission; 

15 (2) the term ‘‘covered Internet service provider’’ 

16 means an Internet service provider that imposes a 

17 data cap on consumers of the provider; and 

18 (3) the term ‘‘data cap’’ means— 

19 (A) a limit on the amount of bits a con20 sumer of an Internet service provider may 

21 download or upload during a period of time 

22 specified by the Internet service provider; or 

23 (B) a fee-based structure with the purpose 

24 of limiting the bits a consumer of an Internet 

25 service provider may download or upload during 


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1 a period of time specified by the Internet serv2 ice provider. 

3 (b) CERTIFICATION OF INTERNET SERVICE PRO4 VIDERS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—An Internet service provider 

6 may not impose a data cap on the consumers of the 

7 provider unless the provider is certified by the Com8 mission under paragraph (2). 

9 (2) CERTIFICATION BY COMMISSION.— 

10 (A) ACCURACY IN MEASUREMENT.— 

11 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission 

12 shall consult with the National Institute of 

13 Standards and Technology and other ex14 perts, including those in the private sector, 

15 to establish standards to which an Internet 

16 service provider shall adhere in order to ac17 curately measure household data usage of 

18 consumers of the provider and such stand19 ards must apply to the— 

20 (I) hardware devices used in 

21 homes of consumers and throughout 

22 the network of the Internet service 

23 provider to measure data usage; and 

24 (II) the mechanism, including 

25 firmware and software, used by the 


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1 Internet service provider to measure 

2 data usage. 

3 (ii) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Prior to fi4 nalizing the standards required under 

5 clause (i), the Commission shall allow for, 

6 and take into consideration, public com7 ment on proposed standards. 

8 (B) SMART DATA CAPS INSTEAD OF DUMB

9 ONES.—The Commission shall evaluate a data 

10 cap proposed by an Internet service provider to 

11 determine whether the data cap functions to 

12 reasonably limit network congestion in a man13 ner that does not unnecessarily discourage use 

14 of the Internet. 

15 (C) CERTIFICATION.—The Commission 

16 shall provide certification to an Internet service 

17 provider, if the Commission determines that— 

18 (i) the Internet service provider is ac19 curately measuring household data usage 

20 consistent with the standards established 

21 under subparagraph (A); and 

22 (ii) the data cap proposed by the 

23 Internet service provider functions to rea24 sonably limit network congestion without 

25 unnecessarily restricting Internet use. 


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1 (c) DISCRIMINATION OF CONTENT.—A covered Inter2 net service provider may not, for purposes of measuring 

3 data usage or otherwise, provide preferential treatment of 

4 data that is based on the source or the content of the data. 

5 (d) CONSUMER CONTROL OF DATA USAGE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—A covered Internet service 

7 provider shall, upon the first day of Internet service 

8 provided to a consumer, identify commercially avail9 able tools that allow the consumer to— 

10 (A) monitor, in real time to the extent fea11 sible, the amount of bits that the consumer has 

12 uploaded or downloaded, and the relationship 

13 such information has to the terms of the data 

14 cap of the Internet service provider; and 

15 (B) control uploads and downloads on all 

16 wireline and wireless devices that have access to 

17 the Internet service network of the consumer. 

18 (2) PROVISION OF TOOLS.—If any of the tools 

19 described in paragraph (1) are not commercially 

20 available, the Internet service provider shall provide 

21 such tools to the consumer on the first day that 

22 Internet service is provided to the consumer. 

23 (e) ENFORCEMENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall— 


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1 (A) establish a procedure to enable individ2 uals to file a complaint with the Commission re3 lating to an Internet service provider and 

4 whether the provider is accurately measuring 

5 data use in relation to a data cap; and 

6 (B) promptly investigate any complaint 

7 filed in accordance with the procedure estab8 lished under subparagraph (A). 

9 (2) AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE CIVIL PENALTY.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may 

11 impose a civil penalty on an Internet service 

12 provider that inaccurately measures data use in 

13 relation to a data cap that is inconsistent with 

14 the standards established under subsection 

15 (b)(2)(A). 

16 (B) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is 

17 established in the Treasury of the United 

18 States a fund to be known as the ‘‘Data Cap 

19 Integrity Fund’’ (referred to in this paragraph 

20 as the ‘‘Fund’’). 

21 (C) DEPOSITS.—Notwithstanding section 

22 3302 of title 31, United States Code, or any 

23 other law regarding the crediting of money re24 ceived for the Government, there shall be deposVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:40 Dec 28, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3703.IS S3703

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1 ited in the Fund any civil penalty collected by 

2 the Commission under subparagraph (A). 

3 (D) EXPENDITURES FROM FUND.— 

4 Amounts in the Fund shall be available to the 

5 Commission to make payments to any indi6 vidual who has filed a complaint in accordance 

7 with the procedure established under paragraph 

8 (1)(A) in order to make the individual finan9 cially whole as a result of an inaccurate meas10 urement of data use by an Internet service pro11 vider. 

12 (E) EXCESS AMOUNTS.—Effective on Sep13 tember 30, 2013, and each year thereafter, all 

14 unobligated balances in excess of $5,000,000 

15 shall be transferred to the General Fund of the 

16 Treasury for the purpose of deficit reduction. 

17 (f) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall pro19 mulgate regulations to implement this section. 

Æ 


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