I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1008 

To improve public awareness in the United States regarding safe use of 

the Internet through the establishment of an Office of Internet Safety 

and Public Awareness within the Federal Trade Commission. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2007 

Ms. BEAN (for herself, Mr. HILL, Mr. ARCURI, Mr. BARROW, Mr. BERRY, Ms. 

BERKLEY, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. BOYD of Florida, Mr. 

BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, 

Mr. CRAMER, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. 

ELLSWORTH, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HALL of New York, Mr. 

HINCHEY, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. KIND, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mrs. 

LOWEY, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MARSHALL, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. 

MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MEEK

of Florida, Mr. MELANCON, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. 

MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

ROSS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SHULER, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. 

SPRATT, Mr. TANNER, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. 

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To improve public awareness in the United States regarding 

safe use of the Internet through the establishment of 

an Office of Internet Safety and Public Awareness within 

the Federal Trade Commission. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Amer3 ica’s Families by Enhancing and Reorganizing New and 

4 Efficient Technologies Act of 2007’’ or the ‘‘SAFER NET 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE. 

7 The Federal Trade Commission shall establish an Of8 fice of Internet Safety and Public Awareness, which shall 

9 have responsibility for programs and activities relating to 

10 increasing public awareness and providing education re11 garding Internet safety. 

12 SEC. 3. DIRECTOR. 

13 The Office shall be headed by a Director who shall 

14 be appointed by the Commission. 

15 SEC. 4. INTERNET SAFETY. 

16 For purposes of this Act, the issue of Internet safety 

17 includes issues regarding use of the Internet in a manner 

18 that promotes safe online activity, including safe trans19 actions involved in online commerce, and protects against 

20 threats to financial information and privacy, threats from 

21 cyber-crime, and threats to juveniles, including cyber22 predators and material that is inappropriate for minors. 

23 SEC. 5. DUTIES. 

24 (a) ACTIVITIES.—The Commission, acting through 

25 the Office, shall carry out a nationwide program to in26 crease public awareness and education regarding Internet 


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1 safety, for families, businesses, organizations, and other 

2 users, that utilizes existing resources and efforts of the 

3 Federal Government, State and local governments, non4 profit organizations, private technology and financial com5 panies, Internet service providers, World Wide Web-based 

6 resources, and other appropriate entities, that includes— 

7 (1) evaluating Internet safety efforts and activi8 ties provided at various levels of government and by 

9 other entities; 

10 (2) improving efficiency of Internet safety ef11 forts and activities, by eliminating redundancy of ef12 forts at various levels of government and other enti13 ties, identifying, promoting, and expanding effective 

14 such efforts and activities and coordinating among 

15 such efforts and activities; 

16 (3) identifying, promoting, and encouraging 

17 best practices for Internet safety; 

18 (4) establishing and carrying out a national 

19 outreach and education campaign regarding Internet 

20 safety utilizing various media and Internet-based re21 sources; 

22 (5) serving as the primary contact in the Fed23 eral Government, and as a national clearinghouse, 

24 for information and public awareness efforts regard25 ing Internet safety; 


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1 (6) facilitating access to, and the exchange of, 

2 information regarding Internet safety to promote up3 to-date knowledge regarding current issues; 

4 (7) providing expert advice and consultation to 

5 the Commission regarding Internet safety issues; 

6 and 

7 (8) providing assistance, including technical as8 sistance and financial assistance under subsection 

9 (c), to States, units of local government, schools, po10 lice departments, non-profit organizations, and such 

11 other entities as the Office considers appropriate to 

12 promote Internet safety education and public aware13 ness. 

14 (b) GRANTS AND CONTRACTS.— 

15 (1) AUTHORITY.—In carrying out subsection 

16 (b), the Commission, acting through the Office, may 

17 make grants, to the extent amounts are provided in 

18 advance in appropriation Acts for such grants, to, 

19 and enter into cooperative agreements, contracts, 

20 and interagency agreements with States, units of 

21 local government, schools, police departments, non22 profit organizations, and such other public and pri23 vate agencies, entities, and organizations as the Of24 fice considers appropriate. 


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1 (2) EVALUATION.—The Commission, acting 

2 through the Office, shall provide for evaluations of 

3 projects and activities carried out with financial as4 sistance provided under paragraph (1) and for the 

5 dissemination of information developed as a result of 

6 such projects. 

7 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORTS. 

8 The Commission, acting through the Office, shall 

9 submit a report not later than March 31 of each year 

10 that— 

11 (1) describes the activities of the Office during 

12 the preceding calendar year; 

13 (2) contains any evaluations performed pursu14 ant to subsection (c)(2) for any projects and activi15 ties carried out during the preceding calendar with 

16 assistance under subsection (c)(1); 

17 (3) describes and analyzes the current state, as 

18 of the preparation of such report, of Internet safety, 

19 existing and emerging threats to Internet safety, and 

20 costs to the economy of the United States resulting 

21 from preventing, responding to, eliminating, and 

22 otherwise dealing with threats to Internet safety. 

23 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

24 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

25 shall apply: 


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

2 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

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

4 collectively the myriad of computer and tele5 communications facilities, including equipment and 

6 operating software, which comprise the inter7 connected world-wide network of networks that em8 ploy the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet 

9 Protocol, or any predecessor or successor protocols 

10 to such protocol, to communicate information of all 

11 kinds by wire or radio. 

12 (3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of13 fice of Internet Safety and Public Awareness of the 

14 Federal Trade Commission, established by section 2. 

Æ 


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