S. 1492

One Hundred Tenth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,

the third day of January, two thousand and eight

An Act

To improve the quality of Federal and State data regarding the availability and

quality of broadband services and to promote the deployment of affordable

broadband services to all parts of the Nation.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

TITLE I—BROADBAND DATA

IMPROVEMENT

SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

This title may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Data Improvement

Act’’.

SEC. 102 FINDINGS.

The Congress finds the following:

(1) The deployment and adoption of broadband technology

has resulted in enhanced economic development and public

safety for communities across the Nation, improved health care

and educational opportunities, and a better quality of life for

all Americans.

(2) Continued progress in the deployment and adoption

of broadband technology is vital to ensuring that our Nation

remains competitive and continues to create business and job

growth.

(3) Improving Federal data on the deployment and adoption

of broadband service will assist in the development of

broadband technology across all regions of the Nation.

(4) The Federal Government should also recognize and

encourage complementary State efforts to improve the quality

and usefulness of broadband data and should encourage and

support the partnership of the public and private sectors in

the continued growth of broadband services and information

technology for the residents and businesses of the Nation.

SEC. 103 IMPROVING FEDERAL DATA ON BROADBAND.

(a) IMPROVING SECTION 706 INQUIRY.—Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 157 note) is amended—

(1) by striking ‘‘regularly’’ in subsection (b) and inserting

‘‘annually’’;

(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and

(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:

‘‘(c) DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR UNSERVED AREAS.—As

part of the inquiry required by subsection (b), the Commission
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shall compile a list of geographical areas that are not served by

any provider of advanced telecommunications capability (as defined

by section 706(c)(1) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47

U.S.C. 157 note)) and to the extent that data from the Census

Bureau is available, determine, for each such unserved area—

‘‘(1) the population;

‘‘(2) the population density; and

‘‘(3) the average per capita income.’’.

(b) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the assessment and report

required by section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

(47 U.S.C. 157 note), the Federal Communications Commission

shall include information comparing the extent of broadband

service capability (including data transmission speeds and price

for broadband service capability) in a total of 75 communities

in at least 25 countries abroad for each of the data rate benchmarks for broadband service utilized by the Commission to

reflect different speed tiers.

(2) CONTENTS.—The Commission shall choose communities

for the comparison under this subsection in a manner that

will offer, to the extent possible, communities of a population

size, population density, topography, and demographic profile

that are comparable to the population size, population density,

topography, and demographic profile of various communities

within the United States. The Commission shall include in

the comparison under this subsection—

(A) a geographically diverse selection of countries; and

(B) communities including the capital cities of such

countries.

(3) SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.—The Commission shall

identify relevant similarities and differences in each community, including their market structures, the number of competitors, the number of facilities-based providers, the types of technologies deployed by such providers, the applications and services those technologies enable, the regulatory model under

which broadband service capability is provided, the types of

applications and services used, business and residential use

of such services, and other media available to consumers.

(c) CONSUMER SURVEY OF BROADBAND SERVICE CAPABILITY.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of evaluating, on a statistically significant basis, the national characteristics of the use

of broadband service capability, the Commission shall conduct

and make public periodic surveys of consumers in urban, suburban, and rural areas in the large business, small business,

and residential consumer markets to determine—

(A) the types of technology used to provide the

broadband service capability to which consumers subscribe;

(B) the amounts consumers pay per month for such

capability;

(C) the actual data transmission speeds of such capability;

(D) the types of applications and services consumers

most frequently use in conjunction with such capability;

(E) for consumers who have declined to subscribe to

broadband service capability, the reasons given by such

consumers for declining such capability;
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(F) other sources of broadband service capability which

consumers regularly use or on which they rely; and

(G) any other information the Commission deems

appropriate for such purpose.

(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Commission shall make

publicly available the results of surveys conducted under this

subsection at least once per year.

(d) IMPROVING CENSUS DATA ON BROADBAND.—The Secretary

of Commerce, in consultation with the Federal Communications

Commission, shall expand the American Community Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census to elicit information for residential households, including those located on native lands, to determine whether persons at such households own or use a computer

at that address, whether persons at that address subscribe to Internet service and, if so, whether such persons subscribe to dialup or broadband Internet service at that address.

(e) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—Nothing in this title shall

reduce or remove any obligation the Commission has to protect

proprietary information, nor shall this title be construed to compel

the Commission to make publicly available any proprietary information.

SEC. 104. STUDY ON ADDITIONAL BROADBAND METRICS AND STANDARDS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall conduct a

study to consider and evaluate additional broadband metrics or

standards that may be used by industry and the Federal Government to provide users with more accurate information about the

cost and capability of their broadband connection, and to better

compare the deployment and penetration of broadband in the United

States with other countries. At a minimum, such study shall consider potential standards or metrics that may be used—

(1) to calculate the average price per megabit per second

of broadband offerings;

(2) to reflect the average actual speed of broadband

offerings compared to advertised potential speeds and to consider factors affecting speed that may be outside the control

of a broadband provider;

(3) to compare, using comparable metrics and standards,

the availability and quality of broadband offerings in the United

States with the availability and quality of broadband offerings

in other industrialized nations, including countries that are

members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development; and

(4) to distinguish between complementary and substitutable

broadband offerings in evaluating deployment and penetration.

(b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report to the

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and

the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce

on the results of the study, with recommendations for how industry

and the Federal Communications Commission can use such metrics

and comparisons to improve the quality of broadband data and

to better evaluate the deployment and penetration of comparable

broadband service at comparable rates across all regions of the

Nation.
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SEC. 105. STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF BROADBAND SPEED AND PRICE

ON SMALL BUSINESSES.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to appropriations, the Small Business

Administration Office of Advocacy shall conduct a study evaluating

the impact of broadband speed and price on small businesses.

(b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment

of this Act, the Office shall submit a report to the Senate Committee

on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Senate Committee

on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business on the results of the

study, including—

(1) a survey of broadband speeds available to small

businesses;

(2) a survey of the cost of broadband speeds available

to small businesses;

(3) a survey of the type of broadband technology used

by small businesses; and

(4) any policy recommendations that may improve small

businesses access to comparable broadband services at comparable rates in all regions of the Nation.

SEC. 106. ENCOURAGING STATE INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE

BROADBAND.

(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of any grant under subsection

(b) are—

(1) to ensure that all citizens and businesses in a State

have access to affordable and reliable broadband service;

(2) to achieve improved technology literacy, increased computer ownership, and broadband use among such citizens and

businesses;

(3) to establish and empower local grassroots technology

teams in each State to plan for improved technology use across

multiple community sectors; and

(4) to establish and sustain an environment ripe for

broadband services and information technology investment.

(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE BROADBAND DATA AND DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce shall award

grants, taking into account the results of the peer review

process under subsection (d), to eligible entities for the development and implementation of statewide initiatives to identify

and track the availability and adoption of broadband services

within each State.

(2) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Any grant under subsection (b)

shall be awarded on a competitive basis.

(c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant under subsection (b), an eligible entity shall—

(1) submit an application to the Secretary of Commerce,

at such time, in such manner, and containing such information

as the Secretary may require;

(2) contribute matching non-Federal funds in an amount

equal to not less than 20 percent of the total amount of the

grant; and

(3) agree to comply with confidentiality requirements in

subsection (h)(2) of this section.

(d) PEER REVIEW; NONDISCLOSURE.—
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by regulation require

appropriate technical and scientific peer review of applications

made for grants under this section.

(2) REVIEW PROCEDURES.—The regulations required under

paragraph (1) shall require that any technical and scientific

peer review group—

(A) be provided a written description of the grant to

be reviewed;

(B) provide the results of any review by such group

to the Secretary of Commerce; and

(C) certify that such group will enter into voluntary

nondisclosure agreements as necessary to prevent the

unauthorized disclosure of confidential and proprietary

information provided by broadband service providers in

connection with projects funded by any such grant.

(e) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant awarded to an eligible entity

under subsection (b) shall be used—

(1) to provide a baseline assessment of broadband service

deployment in each State;

(2) to identify and track—

(A) areas in each State that have low levels of

broadband service deployment;

(B) the rate at which residential and business users

adopt broadband service and other related information

technology services; and

(C) possible suppliers of such services;

(3) to identify barriers to the adoption by individuals and

businesses of broadband service and related information technology services, including whether or not—

(A) the demand for such services is absent; and

(B) the supply for such services is capable of meeting

the demand for such services;

(4) to identify the speeds of broadband connections made

available to individuals and businesses within the State, and,

at a minimum, to rely on the data rate benchmarks for

broadband service utilized by the Commission to reflect different speed tiers, to promote greater consistency of data among

the States;

(5) to create and facilitate in each county or designated

region in a State a local technology planning team—

(A) with members representing a cross section of the

community, including representatives of business, telecommunications labor organizations, K–12 education,

health care, libraries, higher education, community-based

organizations, local government, tourism, parks and recreation, and agriculture; and

(B) which shall—

(i) benchmark technology use across relevant

community sectors;

(ii) set goals for improved technology use within

each sector; and

(iii) develop a tactical business plan for achieving

its goals, with specific recommendations for online

application development and demand creation;

(6) to work collaboratively with broadband service providers

and information technology companies to encourage deployment

and use, especially in unserved areas and areas in which
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broadband penetration is significantly below the national average, through the use of local demand aggregation, mapping

analysis, and the creation of market intelligence to improve

the business case for providers to deploy;

(7) to establish programs to improve computer ownership

and Internet access for unserved areas and areas in which

broadband penetration is significantly below the national average;

(8) to collect and analyze detailed market data concerning

the use and demand for broadband service and related information technology services;

(9) to facilitate information exchange regarding the use

and demand for broadband services between public and private

sectors; and

(10) to create within each State a geographic inventory

map of broadband service, including the data rate benchmarks

for broadband service utilized by the Commission to reflect

different speed tiers, which shall—

(A) identify gaps in such service through a method

of geographic information system mapping of service availability based on the geographic boundaries of where service

is available or unavailable among residential or business

customers; and

(B) provide a baseline assessment of statewide

broadband deployment in terms of households with highspeed availability.

(f) PARTICIPATION LIMIT.—For each State, an eligible entity

may not receive a new grant under this section to fund the activities

described in subsection (d) within such State if such organization

obtained prior grant awards under this section to fund the same

activities in that State in each of the previous 4 consecutive years.

(g) REPORTING; BROADBAND INVENTORY MAP.—The Secretary

of Commerce shall—

(1) require each recipient of a grant under subsection (b)

to submit a report on the use of the funds provided by the

grant; and

(2) create a web page on the Department of Commerce

website that aggregates relevant information made available

to the public by grant recipients, including, where appropriate,

hypertext links to any geographic inventory maps created by

grant recipients under subsection (e)(10).

(h) ACCESS TO AGGREGATE DATA.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), the Commission

shall provide eligible entities access, in electronic form, to aggregate data collected by the Commission based on the Form

477 submissions of broadband service providers.

(2) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any provision of Federal

or State law to the contrary, an eligible entity shall treat

any matter that is a trade secret, commercial or financial

information, or privileged or confidential, as a record not subject

to public disclosure except as otherwise mutually agreed to

by the broadband service provider and the eligible entity. This

paragraph applies only to information submitted by the

Commission or a broadband provider to carry out the provisions

of this title and shall not otherwise limit or affect the rules
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governing public disclosure of information collected by any Federal or State entity under any other Federal or State law

or regulation.

(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal Communications Commission.

(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means—

(A) an entity that is either—

(i) an agency or instrumentality of a State, or

a municipality or other subdivision (or agency or

instrumentality of a municipality or other subdivision)

of a State;

(ii) a nonprofit organization that is described in

section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

and that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a)

of such Code; or

(iii) an independent agency or commission in which

an office of a State is a member on behalf of the

State; and

(B) is the single eligible entity in the State that has

been designated by the State to receive a grant under

this section.

(j) NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section shall

be construed as giving any public or private entity established

or affected by this title any regulatory jurisdiction or oversight

authority over providers of broadband services or information technology.

TITLE II—PROTECTING CHILDREN

SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This title may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting

Children in the 21st Century Act’’.

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this title

is as follows:

Sec. 201. Short title; table of contents.

SUBTITLE A—PROMOTING A SAFE INTERNET FOR CHILDREN

Sec. 211. Internet safety.

Sec. 212. Public awareness campaign.

Sec. 213. Annual reports.

Sec. 214. Online safety and technology working group.

Sec. 215. Promoting online safety in schools.

Sec. 216. Definitions.

SUBTITLE B—ENHANCING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ENFORCEMENT

Sec. 221. Child pornography prevention; forfeitures related to child pornography

violations.

SUBTITLE A—PROMOTING A SAFE

INTERNET FOR CHILDREN

SEC. 211. INTERNET SAFETY.

For the purposes of this title, the issue of Internet safety

includes issues regarding the use of the Internet in a manner

that promotes safe online activity for children, protects children
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from cybercrimes, including crimes by online predators, and helps

parents shield their children from material that is inappropriate

for minors.

SEC. 212. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.

The Federal Trade Commission shall carry out a nationwide

program to increase public awareness and provide education

regarding strategies to promote the safe use of the Internet by

children. The program shall utilize existing resources and efforts

of the Federal Government, State and local governments, nonprofit

organizations, private technology and financial companies, Internet

service providers, World Wide Web-based resources, and other

appropriate entities, that includes—

(1) identifying, promoting, and encouraging best practices

for Internet safety;

(2) establishing and carrying out a national outreach and

education campaign regarding Internet safety utilizing various

media and Internet-based resources;

(3) facilitating access to, and the exchange of, information

regarding Internet safety to promote up-to-date knowledge

regarding current issues; and

(4) facilitating access to Internet safety education and

public awareness efforts the Commission considers appropriate

by States, units of local government, schools, police departments, nonprofit organizations, and other appropriate entities.

SEC. 213. ANNUAL REPORTS.

The Commission shall submit a report to the Committee on

Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives

not later than March 31 of each year that describes the activities

carried out under section 103 by the Commission during the preceding calendar year.

SEC. 214. ONLINE SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Within 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information shall establish an Online Safety and

Technology working group comprised of representatives of relevant

sectors of the business community, public interest groups, and

other appropriate groups and Federal agencies to review and

evaluate—

(1) the status of industry efforts to promote online safety

through educational efforts, parental control technology,

blocking and filtering software, age-appropriate labels for content or other technologies or initiatives designed to promote

a safe online environment for children;

(2) the status of industry efforts to promote online safety

among providers of electronic communications services and

remote computing services by reporting apparent child pornography under section 13032 of title 42, United States Code,

including any obstacles to such reporting;

(3) the practices of electronic communications service providers and remote computing service providers related to record

retention in connection with crimes against children; and

(4) the development of technologies to help parents shield

their children from inappropriate material on the Internet.
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(b) REPORT.—Within 1 year after the working group is first

convened, it shall submit a report to the Assistant Secretary, the

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the

Senate, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House

of Representatives that—

(1) describes in detail its findings, including any information related to the effectiveness of such strategies and technologies and any information about the prevalence within

industry of educational campaigns, parental control technologies, blocking and filtering software, labeling, or other technologies to assist parents; and

(2) includes recommendations as to what types of incentives

could be used or developed to increase the effectiveness and

implementation of such strategies and technologies.

(c) FACA NOT TO APPLY TO WORKING GROUP.—The Federal

Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the

working group.

SEC. 215. PROMOTING ONLINE SAFETY IN SCHOOLS.

Section 254(h)(5)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

U.S.C. 254(h)(5)(b)) is amended—

(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in clause (i);

(2) by striking ‘‘minors.’’ in clause (ii) and inserting ‘‘minors;

and’’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(iii) as part of its Internet safety policy is educating minors about appropriate online behavior,

including interacting with other individuals on social

networking websites and in chat rooms and

cyberbullying awareness and response.’’.

SEC. 216. DEFINITIONS.

In this title:

(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal Trade Commission.

(2) INTERNET.—The term ‘‘Internet’’ means collectively the

myriad of computer and telecommunications facilities, including

equipment and operating software, which comprise the interconnected world-wide network of networks that employ the

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or any predecessor successor protocols to such protocol, to communicate

information of all kinds by wire or radio.
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SUBTITLE B—ENHANCING CHILD

PORNOGRAPHY ENFORCEMENT

SEC. 221. CHILD PORNOGRAPHY PREVENTION; FORFEITURES

RELATED TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY VIOLATIONS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 503(b)(1) of the Communications Act

of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 503(b)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘or 1464’’

in subparagraph (D) and inserting ‘‘1464, or 2252’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.