I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5353 

To establish broadband policy and direct the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a proceeding and public broadband summits to assess 

competition, consumer protection, and consumer choice issues relating 

to broadband Internet access services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2008 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. PICKERING) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish broadband policy and direct the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a proceeding and 

public broadband summits to assess competition, consumer protection, and consumer choice issues relating 

to broadband Internet access services, 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 ‘‘Internet Freedom 

5 Preservation Act of 2008’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The Internet has had profound benefits for 

4 numerous aspects of daily life for millions of people 

5 throughout the United States and is increasingly 

6 vital to the economy of the United States. 

7 (2) The importance of the broadband market8 place to citizens, communities, and commerce war9 rants a thorough inquiry to obtain input and ideas 

10 for a variety of broadband policies that will promote 

11 openness, competition, innovation, and affordable, 

12 ubiquitous broadband service for all individuals in 

13 the United States. 

14 SEC. 3. BROADBAND POLICY. 

15 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

16 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

17 following new section: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 12. BROADBAND POLICY. 

19 ‘‘It is the policy of the United States— 

20 ‘‘(1) to maintain the freedom to use for lawful 

21 purposes broadband telecommunications networks, 

22 including the Internet, without unreasonable inter23 ference from or discrimination by network operators, 

24 as has been the policy and history of the Internet 

25 and the basis of user expectations since its inception; 


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1 ‘‘(2) to ensure that the Internet remains a vital 

2 force in the United States economy, thereby enabling 

3 the Nation to preserve its global leadership in online 

4 commerce and technological innovation; 

5 ‘‘(3) to preserve and promote the open and 

6 interconnected nature of broadband networks that 

7 enable consumers to reach, and service providers to 

8 offer, lawful content, applications, and services of 

9 their choosing, using their selection of devices, as 

10 long as such devices do not harm the network; and 

11 ‘‘(4) to safeguard the open marketplace of ideas 

12 on the Internet by adopting and enforcing baseline 

13 protections to guard against unreasonable discrimi14 natory favoritism for, or degradation of, content by 

15 network operators based upon its source, ownership, 

16 or destination on the Internet.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. INTERNET FREEDOM ASSESSMENT. 

18 (a) INTERNET FREEDOM ASSESSMENT REQUIRED.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 90 days after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Com21 munications Commission (in this Act referred to as 

22 the ‘‘Commission’’) shall commence a proceeding on 

23 broadband services and consumer rights. 


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1 (2) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.—As part of the 

2 proceeding under this section, the Commission shall 

3 assess— 

4 (A) whether broadband network providers 

5 adhere to the Commission’s Broadband Policy 

6 Statement of August, 2005 (FCC 05–151), in7 cluding whether, consistent with the needs of 

8 law enforcement, such providers refrain from 

9 blocking, thwarting, or unreasonably interfering 

10 with the ability of consumers to— 

11 (i) access, use, send, receive, or offer 

12 lawful content, applications, or services 

13 over broadband networks, including the 

14 Internet; 

15 (ii) use lawful applications and serv16 ices of their choice; and 

17 (iii) attach or connect their choice of 

18 legal devices to use in conjunction with 

19 their broadband telecommunications or in20 formation services, provided such devices 

21 do not harm the network; 

22 (B) whether broadband network providers 

23 add charges for quality of service, or other simi24 lar additional fees or surcharges, to certain 

25 Internet applications and service providers, and 


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1 whether such pricing conflicts with the policies 

2 of the United States stated in section 12 of the 

3 Communications Act of 1934 (as added by sec4 tion 3 of this Act); 

5 (C) whether broadband network providers 

6 offer to consumers parental control protection 

7 tools, services to combat unsolicited commercial 

8 electronic mail, and other similar consumer 

9 services, the manner in which such services are 

10 offered, and the extent to which such services 

11 are consistent with such policies of the United 

12 States; 

13 (D) practices by which network providers 

14 manage or prioritize network traffic, including 

15 prioritization for emergency communications, 

16 and whether and in what instances such prac17 tices may be consistent with such policies of the 

18 United States; 

19 (E) with respect to content, applications, 

20 and services— 

21 (i) the historic economic benefits of an 

22 open platform; 

23 (ii) the relationship between competi24 tion in the broadband Internet access mar25 ket and an open platform; and 


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1 (iii) the policy choices and results of 

2 global competitors with respect to access 

3 competition and an open platform; 

4 (F) whether the need for enforceable rules 

5 governing openness, consumer rights, and con6 sumer protections or prohibiting unreasonable 

7 discrimination is lessened if a broadband net8 work provider provides significantly high band9 width speeds to consumers; and 

10 (G) the potential of policies promoting 

11 openness in spectrum allocation, universal serv12 ice programs, and video franchising to expand 

13 innovation through protection from unreason14 able interference by network owners of an open 

15 marketplace for speech and commerce in con16 tent, applications, and services. 

17 (b) PUBLIC BROADBAND SUMMITS REQUIRED.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the proceeding 

19 required under subsection (a), and within 1 year 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

21 Commission shall conduct a minimum of 8 public 

22 broadband summits, in geographically diverse loca23 tions, around the United States. The Commission 

24 shall publicly announce the time and location of each 

25 such summit at least 30 days in advance. 


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1 (2) PURPOSE OF PUBLIC BROADBAND SUM2 MITS.—Such public broadband summits shall seek to 

3 bring together, among others, consumers, consumer 

4 advocates, small business owners, corporations, ven5 ture capitalists, State and local governments, aca6 demia, labor organizations, religious organizations, 

7 representatives of higher education, primary and 

8 secondary schools, public libraries, public safety, and 

9 the technology sector to assess competition, con10 sumer protection, and consumer choice issues related 

11 to broadband Internet access services. 

12 (c) INTERNET INPUT.—As part of the proceeding re13 quired under subsection (a), the Commission shall seek to 

14 utilize broadband technology to encourage input from and 

15 communication with the people of the United States 

16 through the Internet in a manner that will maximize the 

17 ability of such people to participate in such proceeding. 

18 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Within 90 days after 

19 completing the summits under subsection (b), the Com20 mission shall submit a report to Congress— 

21 (1) summarizing the results of the assessment 

22 under subsection (a), including information gained 

23 from the public summits under subsection (b); and 

24 (2) providing recommendations on how to pro25 mote competition, safeguard free speech, and ensure 


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1 robust consumer protections and consumer choice re2 lating to broadband Internet access services. 

Æ 


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