I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4952 

To prohibit the unauthorized remote shut down of a cellular phone. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2014 

Mr. GRIFFITH of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit the unauthorized remote shut down of a cellular 

phone. 

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 ‘‘Cell Phone Freedom 

5 Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. UNAUTHORIZED REMOTE SHUTDOWN OF A MOBILE 

7 DEVICE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 250. Unauthorized remote shutdown of a mobile 

2 device 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, being an officer or em4 ployee of the United States, any State, Territory, Com5 monwealth, Possession, or District, or of any department 

6 or agency thereof, knowingly causes a mobile device phone 

7 to be shut down without the consent of the owner or ac8 count holder of that mobile device phone or without the 

9 order of a court authorizing such shut down shall be im10 prisoned not more than 5 years or fined under this title, 

11 or both, and shall be removed from such office or employ12 ment. 

13 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) the term ‘account holder’, with respect to 

15 a mobile device— 

16 ‘‘(A) means the person who holds the ac17 count through which commercial mobile service 

18 or commercial mobile data service is provided 

19 on the device; and 

20 ‘‘(B) includes a person authorized by the 

21 person described in subparagraph (A) to take 

22 actions with respect to the device; 

23 ‘‘(2) the term ‘commercial mobile data service’ 

24 means any mobile service (as defined in Section 3 of 

25 the Communications Act of 1934) that is— 

26 ‘‘(A) a data service; 


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1 ‘‘(B) provided for profit; and 

2 ‘‘(C) available to the public or such classes 

3 of eligible users as to be effectively available to 

4 a substantial portion of the public, as specified 

5 by regulation by the Commission; 

6 ‘‘(3) the term ‘commercial mobile service’ has 

7 the meaning given the term in section 332 of Com8 munications Act of 1934; 

9 ‘‘(4) the term ‘mobile device’ means a personal 

10 electronic device on which commercial mobile service 

11 or commercial mobile data service is provided; and 

12 ‘‘(5) the term ‘shut down’ means to make use 

13 of a hardware or software function to remotely— 

14 ‘‘(A) delete or render inaccessible from the 

15 device all information relating to the account 

16 holder that has been placed on the device; 

17 ‘‘(B) render the device inoperable on the 

18 network of any provider of commercial mobile 

19 service or commercial mobile data service glob20 ally, even if the device is turned off or has the 

21 data storage medium removed; 

22 ‘‘(C) prevent the device from being reac23 tivated or reprogrammed without a passcode or 

24 similar authorization after the device has 

25 been— 


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1 ‘‘(i) rendered inoperable as described 

2 in subparagraph (B); or 

3 ‘‘(ii) subject to an unauthorized fac4 tory reset; and 

5 ‘‘(D) reverse any action described in sub6 paragraph (A), (B), or (C) if the device is re7 covered by the account holder.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 for such chapter is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

‘‘250. Unauthorized remote shutdown of a mobile device.’’. 

Æ 


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