I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2024 

To require mobile service providers and smartphone manufacturers to give 

consumers the ability to remotely delete data from smartphones and 

render smartphones inoperable. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2015 

Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. GRAYSON, and Ms. JACKSON

LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require mobile service providers and smartphone manufacturers to give consumers the ability to remotely delete 

data from smartphones and render smartphones inoperable. 

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 ‘‘Smartphone Theft Pre5 vention Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) mobile device theft costs consumers billions 

2 of dollars each year, according to the Federal Com3 munications Commission; 

4 (2) 1 in 3 robberies include the theft of a mo5 bile device; 

6 (3) carriers, manufacturers, law enforcement, 

7 the Federal Communications Commission, and State 

8 governments have worked to address the growing 

9 trend of mobile device theft, but more remains to be 

10 done; 

11 (4) consumers deserve to have the most secure 

12 technology available to protect them and their infor13 mation; 

14 (5) technological protections continue to de15 velop, evolve, and improve in ways that are good for 

16 the economy and the consumers of the United 

17 States, and for public safety in the United States; 

18 (6) the wireless industry should work with law 

19 enforcement to educate consumers about the security 

20 tools that are available to them and how to keep 

21 their data, their devices, and themselves safe; 

22 (7) because engineering and security needs 

23 change rapidly, the mobile device industry, law en24 forcement, and consumer advocates are best suited 


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1 to proactively develop solutions to protect con2 sumers, drive innovation, and deter theft; and 

3 (8) major cities such as San Francisco, New 

4 York, and London have seen recent decreases in 

5 smartphone theft since carriers and manufacturers 

6 began rolling out sophisticated new technological 

7 functions to protect consumers from theft. 

8 SEC. 3. FUNCTION FOR STOLEN SMARTPHONES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of title III of the Commu10 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended 

11 by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 343. FUNCTION FOR STOLEN SMARTPHONES. 

13 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section— 

15 ‘‘(A) the term ‘account holder’, with re16 spect to a smartphone— 

17 ‘‘(i) means the person who holds the 

18 account through which commercial mobile 

19 service or commercial mobile data service 

20 is provided on the smartphone; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) includes a person authorized by 

22 the person described in clause (i) to take 

23 actions with respect to the smartphone; 

24 ‘‘(B) the term ‘commercial mobile data 

25 service’ has the meaning given the term in secVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 May 06, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2024.IH H2024

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1 tion 6001 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and 

2 Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401); 

3 ‘‘(C) the term ‘commercial mobile service’ 

4 has the meaning given the term in section 332; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(D) the term ‘smartphone’ means a cel7 lular radio telephone or other mobile voice com8 munications handset device— 

9 ‘‘(i) on which commercial mobile serv10 ice or commercial mobile data service is 

11 provided; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) that— 

13 ‘‘(I) utilizes a mobile operating 

14 system; 

15 ‘‘(II) possesses advanced data ca16 pabilities, including software applica17 tions, Internet access, digital voice 

18 services, email, and text messaging; 

19 ‘‘(III) has wireless network 

20 connectivity; and 

21 ‘‘(IV) is capable of operating on 

22 a long-term evolution network. 

23 ‘‘(2) FCC AUTHORITY TO MODIFY DEFINITION

24 OF ‘SMARTPHONE’.—The Commission may modify 

25 the definition of the term ‘smartphone’ under paraVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 May 06, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2024.IH H2024

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1 graph (1) if the Commission determines that cir2 cumstances require such a modification. 

3 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) FUNCTION.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A provider of commer6 cial mobile service or commercial mobile data 

7 service on a smartphone, in coordination with 

8 the manufacturer of, and the provider of the 

9 operating system for, the smartphone, shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) make available on the smartphone 

11 a function described in subparagraph (B); 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(ii) ensure that— 

14 ‘‘(I) during the initial device 

15 setup process, the smartphone 

16 prompts the account holder to enable 

17 the function described in subpara18 graph (B); and 

19 ‘‘(II) only the account holder is 

20 able to opt out of enabling the func21 tion described in subparagraph (B). 

22 ‘‘(B) FUNCTION DETAILS.—A function de23 scribed in this subparagraph, with respect to a 

24 smartphone, is a function that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) may only be used by the account 

2 holder; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) includes the capability to re4 motely— 

5 ‘‘(I) delete or render inaccessible 

6 from the smartphone all information 

7 relating to the account holder that has 

8 been placed on the smartphone; 

9 ‘‘(II) render the smartphone in10 operable on the network of any pro11 vider of commercial mobile service or 

12 commercial mobile data service glob13 ally; 

14 ‘‘(III) prevent the smartphone 

15 from being reactivated or repro16 grammed without a passcode or simi17 lar authorization after the smartphone 

18 has been— 

19 ‘‘(aa) rendered inoperable as 

20 described in subclause (II); or 

21 ‘‘(bb) subject to an unau22 thorized factory reset; and 

23 ‘‘(IV) restore personal informa24 tion from the smartphone onto a com25 patible or interoperable device. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DEVICE STANDARDS.—A person may not 

2 manufacture in the United States, or import into the 

3 United States for sale or resale to the public, a 

4 smartphone unless the smartphone is configured in 

5 such a manner that the provider of commercial mo6 bile service or commercial mobile data service on the 

7 smartphone is able to comply with the requirements 

8 under paragraph (1). 

9 ‘‘(3) EXEMPTIONS FOR FUNCTIONALLY EQUIVA10 LENT TECHNOLOGY.— 

11 ‘‘(A) MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS.—The 

12 Commission may exempt a provider of commer13 cial mobile service or commercial mobile data 

14 service on a smartphone, and the manufacturer 

15 of, and provider of the operating system for, the 

16 smartphone, from the requirement under para17 graph (1) with respect to that smartphone if 

18 the service provider, in coordination with the 

19 manufacturer and operating system provider, 

20 makes available on the smartphone technology 

21 that accomplishes the functional equivalent of 

22 the function, initial prompt, and ability to opt 

23 out required under paragraph (1)(A). 

24 ‘‘(B) MANUFACTURERS AND IMPORTERS.— 

25 The Commission may exempt a person from the 


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1 requirement under paragraph (2)(A), with re2 spect to a smartphone that the person manufac3 tures in the United States or imports into the 

4 United States for sale or resale to the public, 

5 if the smartphone is configured in such a man6 ner that the provider of commercial mobile serv7 ice or commercial mobile data service on the 

8 smartphone may make available on the 

9 smartphone technology that accomplishes the 

10 functional equivalent of the function, initial 

11 prompt, and ability to opt out required under 

12 paragraph (1)(A). 

13 ‘‘(c) NO FEE.—A provider of commercial mobile serv14 ice or commercial mobile data service on a smartphone 

15 may not charge the account holder any fee for making the 

16 function, initial prompt, and ability to opt out required 

17 under subsection (b)(1)(A), or any equivalent technology 

18 described in subsection (b)(3)(A), available to the account 

19 holder. 

20 ‘‘(d) FORFEITURE PENALTY.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person that is deter22 mined by the Commission, in accordance with para23 graphs (3) and (4) of section 503(b), to have vio24 lated subsection (b) or (c) of this section, including 

25 a manufacturer or operating system provider that 


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1 violates the requirement to coordinate with a service 

2 provider under subsection (b)(1)(A), shall be liable 

3 to the United States for a forfeiture penalty, in an 

4 amount to be determined by the Commission. 

5 ‘‘(2) OTHER PENALTIES.—A forfeiture penalty 

6 under this subsection shall be in addition to any 

7 other penalty provided for in this Act. 

8 ‘‘(e) COMMON NATIONAL FRAMEWORK.—The Com9 mission shall establish a common national framework for 

10 smartphone anti-theft measures that takes into consider11 ation the interest of all stakeholders for the purpose of 

12 promoting national uniformity of the function, initial 

13 prompt, and ability to opt out required under subsection 

14 (b)(1)(A), or functionally equivalent technology described 

15 in subsection (b)(3)(A), to protect consumers from the 

16 theft of smartphones. 

17 ‘‘(f) TABLETS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION DETERMINATION.—Not later 

19 than 180 days after the date of enactment of the 

20 Smartphone Theft Prevention Act of 2015, the Com21 mission shall determine whether this section should 

22 apply with respect to tablets on which commercial 

23 mobile service or commercial mobile data service is 

24 provided. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—If the Commission deter2 mines that this section should apply with respect to 

3 tablets described in paragraph (1), the Commission 

4 shall promulgate regulations to implement that de5 termination. 

6 ‘‘(g) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec7 tion shall be construed to prohibit a manufacturer of 

8 smartphones, or a provider of commercial mobile service 

9 or commercial mobile data service, from taking actions not 

10 described in this section to protect consumers from the 

11 theft of smartphones. 

12 ‘‘(h) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.—Nothing in 

13 this section shall be construed to preempt any provision 

14 of State law that provides protections to users of 

15 smartphones (or tablets, if applicable) that are at least 

16 as strong as the protections provided under this section.’’. 

17 (b) APPLICABILITY OF FUNCTION REQUIREMENT.— 

18 (1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

19 ‘‘smartphone’’ has the meaning given the term in 

20 section 343 of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

21 added by subsection (a). 

22 (2) APPLICABILITY.—Except as provided in 

23 paragraph (3), section 343 of the Communications 

24 Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a), shall apply 


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1 with respect to any smartphone that, on or after 

2 January 1, 2016, is— 

3 (A) manufactured in the United States; or 

4 (B) imported into the United States for 

5 sale to the public. 

6 (3) COMPLIANCE EXTENSIONS.—The Federal 

7 Communications Commission may exempt a person 

8 that is subject to any requirement under section 

9 343(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

10 added by subsection (a), from that requirement for 

11 a temporary period after the date described in para12 graph (2) of this subsection, upon a showing by the 

13 person that the person requires more time to be able 

14 to comply with the requirement. 

Æ 


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