110TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1492

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.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 TITLE I—BROADBAND DATA

4 IMPROVEMENT

5 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

6 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Data Im7 provement Act’’.

8 SEC. 102 FINDINGS.

9 The Congress finds the following:

10 (1) The deployment and adoption of broadband

11 technology has resulted in enhanced economic devel12 opment and public safety for communities across the

13 Nation, improved health care and educational oppor14 tunities, and a better quality of life for all Ameri15 cans.

16 (2) Continued progress in the deployment and

17 adoption of broadband technology is vital to ensur18 ing that our Nation remains competitive and con19 tinues to create business and job growth.

20 (3) Improving Federal data on the deployment

21 and adoption of broadband service will assist in the

22 development of broadband technology across all re23 gions of the Nation.

24 (4) The Federal Government should also recog25 nize and encourage complementary State efforts to
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1 improve the quality and usefulness of broadband

2 data and should encourage and support the partner3 ship of the public and private sectors in the contin4 ued growth of broadband services and information

5 technology for the residents and businesses of the

6 Nation.

7 SEC. 103 IMPROVING FEDERAL DATA ON BROADBAND.

8 (a) IMPROVING SECTION 706 INQUIRY.—Section 706

9 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 157

10 note) is amended—

11 (1) by striking ‘‘regularly’’ in subsection (b)

12 and inserting ‘‘annually’’;

13 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub14 section (d); and

15 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol16 lowing:

17 ‘‘(c) DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR UNSERVED

18 AREAS.—As part of the inquiry required by subsection (b),

19 the Commission shall compile a list of geographical areas

20 that are not served by any provider of advanced tele21 communications capability (as defined by section

22 706(c)(1) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47

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

24 Census Bureau is available, determine, for each such

25 unserved area—
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1 ‘‘(1) the population;

2 ‘‘(2) the population density; and

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

4 (b) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON.—

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

6 and report required by section 706 of the Tele7 communications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 157 note),

8 the Federal Communications Commission shall in9 clude information comparing the extent of

10 broadband service capability (including data trans11 mission speeds and price for broadband service capa12 bility) in a total of 75 communities in at least 25

13 countries abroad for each of the data rate bench14 marks for broadband service utilized by the Commis15 sion to reflect different speed tiers.

16 (2) CONTENTS.—The Commission shall choose

17 communities for the comparison under this sub18 section in a manner that will offer, to the extent

19 possible, communities of a population size, popu20 lation density, topography, and demographic profile

21 that are comparable to the population size, popu22 lation density, topography, and demographic profile

23 of various communities within the United States.

24 The Commission shall include in the comparison

25 under this subsection—
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1 (A) a geographically diverse selection of

2 countries; and

3 (B) communities including the capital cit4 ies of such countries.

5 (3) SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.—The

6 Commission shall identify relevant similarities and

7 differences in each community, including their mar8 ket structures, the number of competitors, the num9 ber of facilities-based providers, the types of tech10 nologies deployed by such providers, the applications

11 and services those technologies enable, the regu12 latory model under which broadband service capa13 bility is provided, the types of applications and serv14 ices used, business and residential use of such serv15 ices, and other media available to consumers.

16 (c) CONSUMER SURVEY OF BROADBAND SERVICE

17 CAPABILITY.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of evalu19 ating, on a statistically significant basis, the national

20 characteristics of the use of broadband service capa21 bility, the Commission shall conduct and make pub22 lic periodic surveys of consumers in urban, subur23 ban, and rural areas in the large business, small

24 business, and residential consumer markets to

25 determine—
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1 (A) the types of technology used to provide

2 the broadband service capability to which con3 sumers subscribe;

4 (B) the amounts consumers pay per month

5 for such capability;

6 (C) the actual data transmission speeds of

7 such capability;

8 (D) the types of applications and services

9 consumers most frequently use in conjunction

10 with such capability;

11 (E) for consumers who have declined to

12 subscribe to broadband service capability, the

13 reasons given by such consumers for declining

14 such capability;

15 (F) other sources of broadband service ca16 pability which consumers regularly use or on

17 which they rely; and

18 (G) any other information the Commission

19 deems appropriate for such purpose.

20 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Commission

21 shall make publicly available the results of surveys

22 conducted under this subsection at least once per

23 year.

24 (d) IMPROVING CENSUS DATA ON BROADBAND.—

25 The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Fed-
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1 eral Communications Commission, shall expand the Amer2 ican Community Survey conducted by the Bureau of the

3 Census to elicit information for residential households, in4 cluding those located on native lands, to determine wheth5 er persons at such households own or use a computer at

6 that address, whether persons at that address subscribe

7 to Internet service and, if so, whether such persons sub8 scribe to dial-up or broadband Internet service at that ad9 dress.

10 (e) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—Nothing in this

11 title shall reduce or remove any obligation the Commission

12 has to protect proprietary information, nor shall this title

13 be construed to compel the Commission to make publicly

14 available any proprietary information.

15 SEC. 104. STUDY ON ADDITIONAL BROADBAND METRICS

16 AND STANDARDS.

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

18 conduct a study to consider and evaluate additional

19 broadband metrics or standards that may be used by in20 dustry and the Federal Government to provide users with

21 more accurate information about the cost and capability

22 of their broadband connection, and to better compare the

23 deployment and penetration of broadband in the United

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

2 used—

3 (1) to calculate the average price per megabit

4 per second of broadband offerings;

5 (2) to reflect the average actual speed of

6 broadband offerings compared to advertised poten7 tial speeds and to consider factors affecting speed

8 that may be outside the control of a broadband pro9 vider;

10 (3) to compare, using comparable metrics and

11 standards, the availability and quality of broadband

12 offerings in the United States with the availability

13 and quality of broadband offerings in other industri14 alized nations, including countries that are members

15 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

16 Development; and

17 (4) to distinguish between complementary and

18 substitutable broadband offerings in evaluating de19 ployment and penetration.

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

21 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall

22 submit a report to the Senate Committee on Commerce,

23 Science, and Transportation and the House of Represent24 atives Committee on Energy and Commerce on the results

25 of the study, with recommendations for how industry and
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1 the Federal Communications Commission can use such

2 metrics and comparisons to improve the quality of

3 broadband data and to better evaluate the deployment and

4 penetration of comparable broadband service at com5 parable rates across all regions of the Nation.

6 SEC. 105. STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF BROADBAND SPEED

7 AND PRICE ON SMALL BUSINESSES.

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

9 Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy shall

10 conduct a study evaluating the impact of broadband speed

11 and price on small businesses.

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

13 of enactment of this Act, the Office shall submit a report

14 to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and

15 Transportation, the Senate Committee on Small Business

16 and Entrepreneurship, the House of Representatives Com17 mittee on Energy and Commerce, and the House of Rep18 resentatives Committee on Small Business on the results

19 of the study, including—

20 (1) a survey of broadband speeds available to

21 small businesses;

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

23 available to small businesses;

24 (3) a survey of the type of broadband tech25 nology used by small businesses; and
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1 (4) any policy recommendations that may im2 prove small businesses access to comparable

3 broadband services at comparable rates in all regions

4 of the Nation.

5 SEC. 106. ENCOURAGING STATE INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE

6 BROADBAND.

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

8 subsection (b) are—

9 (1) to ensure that all citizens and businesses in

10 a State have access to affordable and reliable

11 broadband service;

12 (2) to achieve improved technology literacy, in13 creased computer ownership, and broadband use

14 among such citizens and businesses;

15 (3) to establish and empower local grassroots

16 technology teams in each State to plan for improved

17 technology use across multiple community sectors;

18 and

19 (4) to establish and sustain an environment

20 ripe for broadband services and information tech21 nology investment.

22 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE BROADBAND DATA

23 AND DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce

25 shall award grants, taking into account the results
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1 of the peer review process under subsection (d), to

2 eligible entities for the development and implementa3 tion of statewide initiatives to identify and track the

4 availability and adoption of broadband services with5 in each State.

6 (2) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Any grant under

7 subsection (b) shall be awarded on a competitive

8 basis.

9 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant

10 under subsection (b), an eligible entity shall—

11 (1) submit an application to the Secretary of

12 Commerce, at such time, in such manner, and con13 taining such information as the Secretary may re14 quire;

15 (2) contribute matching non-Federal funds in

16 an amount equal to not less than 20 percent of the

17 total amount of the grant; and

18 (3) agree to comply with confidentiality require19 ments in subsection (h)(2) of this section.

20 (d) PEER REVIEW; NONDISCLOSURE.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall by regu22 lation require appropriate technical and scientific

23 peer review of applications made for grants under

24 this section.
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1 (2) REVIEW PROCEDURES.—The regulations re2 quired under paragraph (1) shall require that any

3 technical and scientific peer review group—

4 (A) be provided a written description of

5 the grant to be reviewed;

6 (B) provide the results of any review by

7 such group to the Secretary of Commerce; and

8 (C) certify that such group will enter into

9 voluntary nondisclosure agreements as nec10 essary to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of

11 confidential and proprietary information pro12 vided by broadband service providers in connec13 tion with projects funded by any such grant.

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

15 entity under subsection (b) shall be used—

16 (1) to provide a baseline assessment of

17 broadband service deployment in each State;

18 (2) to identify and track—

19 (A) areas in each State that have low lev20 els of broadband service deployment;

21 (B) the rate at which residential and busi22 ness users adopt broadband service and other

23 related information technology services; and

24 (C) possible suppliers of such services;
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1 (3) to identify barriers to the adoption by indi2 viduals and businesses of broadband service and re3 lated information technology services, including

4 whether or not—

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

6 and

7 (B) the supply for such services is capable

8 of meeting the demand for such services;

9 (4) to identify the speeds of broadband connec10 tions made available to individuals and businesses

11 within the State, and, at a minimum, to rely on the

12 data rate benchmarks for broadband service utilized

13 by the Commission to reflect different speed tiers, to

14 promote greater consistency of data among the

15 States;

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

17 designated region in a State a local technology plan18 ning team—

19 (A) with members representing a cross sec20 tion of the community, including representatives

21 of business, telecommunications labor organiza22 tions, K–12 education, health care, libraries,

23 higher education, community-based organiza24 tions, local government, tourism, parks and

25 recreation, and agriculture; and
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1 (B) which shall—

2 (i) benchmark technology use across

3 relevant community sectors;

4 (ii) set goals for improved technology

5 use within each sector; and

6 (iii) develop a tactical business plan

7 for achieving its goals, with specific rec8 ommendations for online application devel9 opment and demand creation;

10 (6) to work collaboratively with broadband serv11 ice providers and information technology companies

12 to encourage deployment and use, especially in

13 unserved areas and areas in which broadband pene14 tration is significantly below the national average,

15 through the use of local demand aggregation, map16 ping analysis, and the creation of market intelligence

17 to improve the business case for providers to deploy;

18 (7) to establish programs to improve computer

19 ownership and Internet access for unserved areas

20 and areas in which broadband penetration is signifi21 cantly below the national average;

22 (8) to collect and analyze detailed market data

23 concerning the use and demand for broadband serv24 ice and related information technology services;
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1 (9) to facilitate information exchange regarding

2 the use and demand for broadband services between

3 public and private sectors; and

4 (10) to create within each State a geographic

5 inventory map of broadband service, including the

6 data rate benchmarks for broadband service utilized

7 by the Commission to reflect different speed tiers,

8 which shall—

9 (A) identify gaps in such service through a

10 method of geographic information system map11 ping of service availability based on the geo12 graphic boundaries of where service is available

13 or unavailable among residential or business

14 customers; and

15 (B) provide a baseline assessment of state16 wide broadband deployment in terms of house17 holds with high-speed availability.

18 (f) PARTICIPATION LIMIT.—For each State, an eligi19 ble entity may not receive a new grant under this section

20 to fund the activities described in subsection (d) within

21 such State if such organization obtained prior grant

22 awards under this section to fund the same activities in

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

24 (g) REPORTING; BROADBAND INVENTORY MAP.—

25 The Secretary of Commerce shall—
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1 (1) require each recipient of a grant under sub2 section (b) to submit a report on the use of the

3 funds provided by the grant; and

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

5 Commerce website that aggregates relevant informa6 tion made available to the public by grant recipients,

7 including, where appropriate, hypertext links to any

8 geographic inventory maps created by grant recipi9 ents under subsection (e)(10).

10 (h) ACCESS TO AGGREGATE DATA.—

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

12 the Commission shall provide eligible entities access,

13 in electronic form, to aggregate data collected by the

14 Commission based on the Form 477 submissions of

15 broadband service providers.

16 (2) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any provi17 sion of Federal or State law to the contrary, an eli18 gible entity shall treat any matter that is a trade se19 cret, commercial or financial information, or privi20 leged or confidential, as a record not subject to pub21 lic disclosure except as otherwise mutually agreed to

22 by the broadband service provider and the eligible

23 entity. This paragraph applies only to information

24 submitted by the Commission or a broadband pro25 vider to carry out the provisions of this title and
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1 shall not otherwise limit or affect the rules gov2 erning public disclosure of information collected by

3 any Federal or State entity under any other Federal

4 or State law or regulation.

5 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

6 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’

7 means the Federal Communications Commission.

8 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti9 ty’’ means—

10 (A) an entity that is either—

11 (i) an agency or instrumentality of a

12 State, or a municipality or other subdivi13 sion (or agency or instrumentality of a mu14 nicipality or other subdivision) of a State;

15 (ii) a nonprofit organization that is

16 described in section 501(c)(3) of the Inter17 nal Revenue Code of 1986 and that is ex18 empt from taxation under section 501(a)

19 of such Code; or

20 (iii) an independent agency or com21 mission in which an office of a State is a

22 member on behalf of the State; and

23 (B) is the single eligible entity in the State

24 that has been designated by the State to receive

25 a grant under this section.
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1 (j) NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this

2 section shall be construed as giving any public or private

3 entity established or affected by this title any regulatory

4 jurisdiction or oversight authority over providers of

5 broadband services or information technology.

6 TITLE II—PROTECTING

7 CHILDREN

8 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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

10 ‘‘Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act’’.

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

12 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.

13 SUBTITLE A—PROMOTING A

14 SAFE INTERNET FOR CHILDREN

15 SEC. 211. INTERNET SAFETY.

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

17 safety includes issues regarding the use of the Internet

18 in a manner that promotes safe online activity for chil19 dren, protects children from cybercrimes, including crimes
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1 by online predators, and helps parents shield their children

2 from material that is inappropriate for minors.

3 SEC. 212. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.

4 The Federal Trade Commission shall carry out a na5 tionwide program to increase public awareness and pro6 vide education regarding strategies to promote the safe

7 use of the Internet by children. The program shall utilize

8 existing resources and efforts of the Federal Government,

9 State and local governments, nonprofit organizations, pri10 vate technology and financial companies, Internet service

11 providers, World Wide Web-based resources, and other ap12 propriate entities, that includes—

13 (1) identifying, promoting, and encouraging

14 best practices for Internet safety;

15 (2) establishing and carrying out a national

16 outreach and education campaign regarding Internet

17 safety utilizing various media and Internet-based re18 sources;

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

20 information regarding Internet safety to promote up21 to-date knowledge regarding current issues; and

22 (4) facilitating access to Internet safety edu23 cation and public awareness efforts the Commission

24 considers appropriate by States, units of local gov-
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1 ernment, schools, police departments, nonprofit or2 ganizations, and other appropriate entities.

3 SEC. 213. ANNUAL REPORTS.

4 The Commission shall submit a report to the Senate

5 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation not

6 later than March 31 of each year that describes the activi7 ties carried out under section 103 by the Commission dur8 ing the preceding calendar year.

9 SEC. 214. ONLINE SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY WORKING

10 GROUP.

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Within 90 days after the date

12 of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary of Com13 merce for Communications and Information shall establish

14 an Online Safety and Technology working group com15 prised of representatives of relevant sectors of the business

16 community, public interest groups, and other appropriate

17 groups and Federal agencies to review and evaluate—

18 (1) the status of industry efforts to promote on19 line safety through educational efforts, parental con20 trol technology, blocking and filtering software, age21 appropriate labels for content or other technologies

22 or initiatives designed to promote a safe online envi23 ronment for children;

24 (2) the status of industry efforts to promote on25 line safety among providers of electronic communica-
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1 tions services and remote computing services by re2 porting apparent child pornography under section

3 13032 of title 42, United States Code, including any

4 obstacles to such reporting;

5 (3) the practices of electronic communications

6 service providers and remote computing service pro7 viders related to record retention in connection with

8 crimes against children; and

9 (4) the development of technologies to help par10 ents shield their children from inappropriate mate11 rial on the Internet.

12 (b) REPORT.—Within 1 year after the working group

13 is first convened, it shall submit a report to the Assistant

14 Secretary and the Senate Committee on Commerce,

15 Science, and Transportation that—

16 (1) describes in detail its findings, including

17 any information related to the effectiveness of such

18 strategies and technologies and any information

19 about the prevalence within industry of educational

20 campaigns, parental control technologies, blocking

21 and filtering software, labeling, or other technologies

22 to assist parents; and

23 (2) includes recommendations as to what types

24 of incentives could be used or developed to increase
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1 the effectiveness and implementation of such strate2 gies and technologies.

3 (c) FACA NOT TO APPLY TO WORKING GROUP.—

4 The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.)

5 shall not apply to the working group.

6 SEC. 215. PROMOTING ONLINE SAFETY IN SCHOOLS.

7 Section 254(h)(5)(B) of the Communications Act of

8 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)(5)(b)) is amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in

10 clause (i);

11 (2) by striking ‘‘minors.’’ in clause (ii) and in12 serting ‘‘minors; and’’; and

13 (3) by adding at the end the following:

14 ‘‘(iii) as part of its Internet safety

15 policy is educating minors about appro16 priate online behavior, including inter17 acting with other individuals on social net18 working websites and in chat rooms and

19 cyberbullying awareness and response.’’.

20 SEC. 216. DEFINITIONS.

21 In this title:

22 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’

23 means the Federal Trade Commission.

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

25 collectively the myriad of computer and tele-
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1 communications facilities, including equipment and

2 operating software, which comprise the inter3 connected world-wide network of networks that em4 ploy the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet

5 Protocol, or any predecessor successor protocols to

6 such protocol, to communicate information of all

7 kinds by wire or radio.

8 TITLE II—ENHANCING CHILD

9 PORNOGRAPHY ENFORCEMENT

10 SEC. 221. CHILD PORNOGRAPHY PREVENTION; FORFEIT11 URES RELATED TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

12 VIOLATIONS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 503(b)(1) of the Commu14 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 503(b)(1)) is amended

15 by striking ‘‘or 1464’’ in subparagraph (D) and inserting

16 ‘‘1464, or 2252’’.

Passed the Senate September 26 (legislative day,

September 17), 2008.

Attest:

Secretary.
110TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1492

AN ACT

To improve the quality of Federal and State data

parts of the Nation.ment of affordable broadband services to allbroadband services and to promote the deployregarding the availability and quality of