II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1116 

To require providers of broadband internet access service and edge services 

to clearly and conspicuously notify users of the privacy policies of those 

providers, to give users opt-in or opt-out approval rights with respect 

to the use of, disclosure of, and access to user information collected 

by those providers based on the level of sensitivity of the information, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Mrs. BLACKBURN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require providers of broadband internet access service 

and edge services to clearly and conspicuously notify 

users of the privacy policies of those providers, to give 

users opt-in or opt-out approval rights with respect to 

the use of, disclosure of, and access to user information 

collected by those providers based on the level of sensitivity of the information, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Balancing the Rights 

3 Of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly Act of 2019’’ 

4 or the ‘‘BROWSER Act of 2019’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘broadband 

9 internet access service’’ means a mass-market 

10 retail service by wire or radio that provides the 

11 capability to transmit data to and receive data 

12 from all or substantially all internet endpoints, 

13 including any capabilities that are incidental to 

14 and enable the operation of the communications 

15 service, but excluding dial-up internet access 

16 service. 

17 (B) FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENT; EVA18 SION.—The term ‘‘broadband internet access 

19 service’’ includes any service that— 

20 (i) the Commission finds to be pro21 viding a functional equivalent of the service 

22 described in subparagraph (A); or 

23 (ii) is used to evade the protections 

24 set forth in this Act. 

25 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

26 means the Federal Trade Commission. 


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1 (3) COVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘‘covered 

2 service’’ means— 

3 (A) broadband internet access service; or 

4 (B) an edge service. 

5 (4) EDGE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘edge serv6 ice’’— 

7 (A) means a service provided over the 

8 internet— 

9 (i) for which the provider requires the 

10 user to subscribe or establish an account in 

11 order to use the service; 

12 (ii) that the user purchases from the 

13 provider of the service without a subscrip14 tion or account; 

15 (iii) by which a program searches for 

16 and identifies items in a database that cor17 respond to keywords or characters speci18 fied by the user, used especially for finding 

19 particular sites on the world wide web; or 

20 (iv) by which the user divulges sen21 sitive user information; and 

22 (B) includes a service described in sub23 paragraph (A) that is provided through a soft24 ware program, including a mobile application. 


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1 (5) EMERGENCY SERVICES.—The term ‘‘emer2 gency services’’ has the meaning given the term in 

3 section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

4 U.S.C. 222). 

5 (6) MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘material’’ means, 

6 with respect to a change in a privacy policy of a pro7 vider of a covered service, any change in the policy 

8 that a user of the service, acting reasonably under 

9 the circumstances, would consider important to the 

10 decisions of the user regarding the privacy of the 

11 user, including any change to information required 

12 to be included in a privacy notice under section 3. 

13 (7) MOBILE APPLICATION.—The term ‘‘mobile 

14 application’’ means a software program that runs on 

15 the operating system of a mobile device. 

16 (8) NON-SENSITIVE USER INFORMATION.—The 

17 term ‘‘non-sensitive user information’’ means any 

18 user information that is not sensitive user informa19 tion. 

20 (9) OPT-IN APPROVAL.—The term ‘‘opt-in ap21 proval’’ means a method for obtaining from a user 

22 of a covered service consent to use, disclose, or per23 mit access to sensitive user information under which 

24 the provider of the service obtains express consent 


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1 allowing the requested usage of, disclosure of, or ac2 cess to the sensitive user information. 

3 (10) OPT-OUT APPROVAL.—The term ‘‘opt-out 

4 approval’’ means a method for obtaining from a user 

5 of a covered service consent to use, disclose, or per6 mit access to non-sensitive user information under 

7 which the user is deemed to have consented to the 

8 use of, disclosure of, or access to the non-sensitive 

9 user information if the user has failed to object to 

10 the use, disclosure, or access. 

11 (11) PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.—The 

12 term ‘‘public safety answering point’’ has the mean13 ing given the term in section 222 of the Communica14 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222). 

15 (12) SENSITIVE USER INFORMATION.—The 

16 term ‘‘sensitive user information’’ includes any of 

17 the following: 

18 (A) Financial information. 

19 (B) Health information. 

20 (C) Information pertaining to children 

21 under the age of 13. 

22 (D) Social Security number. 

23 (E) Precise geolocation information. 

24 (F) Content of communications. 


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1 (G) Web browsing history, history of usage 

2 of a software program (including a mobile ap3 plication), and the functional equivalents of ei4 ther. 

5 (13) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

6 the several States, the District of Columbia, the 

7 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 

8 Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the Com9 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, any 

10 other territory or possession of the United States, 

11 and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 

12 (14) USER.—The term ‘‘user’’ means, with re13 spect to a covered service, a person who— 

14 (A) is a current or former— 

15 (i) subscriber to the service; or 

16 (ii) holder of an account for the serv17 ice; 

18 (B) purchases the service without a sub19 scription or account; 

20 (C) is an applicant for the service; or 

21 (D) in the case of a service described in 

22 clause (iii) or (iv) of paragraph (4)(A), uses the 

23 service. 

24 (15) USER INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘user in25 formation’’ means any information that— 


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1 (A) a provider of a covered service acquires 

2 in connection with the provision of the service; 

3 and 

4 (B) is linked or reasonably linkable to an 

5 individual. 

6 SEC. 3. NOTICE OF PRIVACY POLICIES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a covered service 

8 shall provide a user of the service with clear and con9 spicuous notice of the privacy policies of the provider with 

10 respect to the service. 

11 (b) AVAILABILITY TO PROSPECTIVE USERS.—The 

12 notice required by subsection (a) shall be made available 

13 to a prospective user of a covered service— 

14 (1) at the point of sale of, subscription to, or 

15 establishment of an account for the covered service, 

16 prior to that sale, subscription, or establishment, 

17 without regard to whether the point of sale, sub18 scription, or establishment is in person, online, over 

19 the telephone, or through another means; or 

20 (2) if there is no such sale, subscription, or es21 tablishment, before the user uses the service. 

22 (c) PERSISTENT AVAILABILITY.—The notice required 

23 by subsection (a) shall be made persistently available. 

24 (d) MATERIAL CHANGES.—A provider of a covered 

25 service shall provide a user of the service with clear and 


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1 conspicuous advance notice of any material change to the 

2 privacy policies of the provider with respect to the service. 

3 SEC. 4. USER OPT-IN OR OPT-OUT APPROVAL RIGHTS 

4 BASED ON SENSITIVITY OF INFORMATION. 

5 (a) OPT-IN APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR SENSITIVE

6 USER INFORMATION.—Except as provided in subsection 

7 (c), a provider of a covered service shall obtain opt-in ap8 proval from a user to use, disclose, or permit access to 

9 the sensitive user information of the user. 

10 (b) OPT-OUT APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR NON-SEN11 SITIVE USER INFORMATION.—Except as provided in sub12 section (c), a provider of a covered service— 

13 (1) shall obtain opt-out approval from a user to 

14 use, disclose, or permit access to any of the non-sen15 sitive user information of the user; or 

16 (2) if the provider so chooses, may comply with 

17 the requirement of paragraph (1) by obtaining opt18 in approval from the user to use, disclose, or permit 

19 access to any of the non-sensitive user information 

20 of the user. 

21 (c) LIMITATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS.—A provider of 

22 a covered service may use, disclose, or permit access to 

23 user information without user approval for the following 

24 purposes: 


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1 (1) In providing the covered service from which 

2 the information is derived, or in providing services 

3 necessary to, or used in, the provision of the service. 

4 (2) To initiate, render, bill for, and collect for 

5 the covered service. 

6 (3) To protect the rights or property of the pro7 vider, or to protect users of the covered service and 

8 other service providers from fraudulent, abusive, or 

9 unlawful use of the service. 

10 (4) To provide location information or non-sen11 sitive user information— 

12 (A) to a public safety answering point, 

13 emergency medical service provider or emer14 gency dispatch provider, public safety, fire serv15 ice, or law enforcement official, or hospital 

16 emergency or trauma care facility, in order to 

17 respond to the request of the user for emer18 gency services; 

19 (B) to inform the legal guardian of the 

20 user, or members of the immediate family of 

21 the user, of the location of the user in an emer22 gency situation that involves the risk of death 

23 or serious physical harm; or 

24 (C) to providers of information or database 

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1 sisting in the delivery of emergency services in 

2 response to an emergency. 

3 (5) As otherwise required or authorized by law. 

4 (d) MECHANISM FOR EXERCISING USER AP5 PROVAL.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a covered serv7 ice shall make available a simple, easy-to-use mecha8 nism for a user to grant, deny, or withdraw opt-in 

9 approval or opt-out approval at any time. 

10 (2) FORM AND MANNER.—The mechanism re11 quired by paragraph (1) shall be— 

12 (A) clear and conspicuous; and 

13 (B) made available— 

14 (i) at no additional cost to the user; 

15 and 

16 (ii) in a language other than English, 

17 if the provider transacts business with the 

18 user in that other language. 

19 (3) EFFECT.—The grant, denial, or withdrawal 

20 of opt-in approval or opt-out approval by a user 

21 shall— 

22 (A) be given effect promptly; and 

23 (B) remain in effect until the user revokes 

24 or limits the grant, denial, or withdrawal of ap25 proval. 


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1 SEC. 5. SERVICE OFFERS CONDITIONED ON WAIVERS OF 

2 PRIVACY RIGHTS. 

3 A provider of a covered service may not— 

4 (1) condition, or effectively condition, provision 

5 of the service on agreement by a user to waive pri6 vacy rights guaranteed by law or regulation, includ7 ing this Act; or 

8 (2) terminate the service or otherwise refuse to 

9 provide the service as a direct or indirect con10 sequence of the refusal of a user to waive any pri11 vacy rights described in paragraph (1). 

12 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 

13 (a) GENERAL APPLICATION.—The requirements of 

14 this Act apply, according to their terms, to— 

15 (1) those persons, partnerships, and corpora16 tions over which the Commission has authority pur17 suant to section 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade Com18 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)); and 

19 (2) providers of broadband internet access serv20 ice, notwithstanding the exception in such section 

21 5(a)(2) for common carriers subject to the Commu22 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 

23 (b) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 

24 A violation of this Act shall be treated as an unfair or 

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1 poses of section 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade Commission 

2 Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)). 

3 (c) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—Except as provided in 

4 subsection (a)(2) of this section— 

5 (1) the Commission shall enforce this Act in the 

6 same manner, by the same means, and with the 

7 same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 

8 applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 

9 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor10 porated into and made a part of this Act; and 

11 (2) any person who violates this Act shall be 

12 subject to the penalties and entitled to the privileges 

13 and immunities provided in the Federal Trade Com14 mission Act. 

15 SEC. 7. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW. 

16 (a) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.—No State or polit17 ical subdivision of a State shall, with respect to a provider 

18 of a covered service subject to this Act, adopt, maintain, 

19 enforce, or impose or continue in effect any law, rule, reg20 ulation, duty, requirement, standard, or other provision 

21 having the force and effect of law relating to or with re22 spect to the privacy of user information. 

23 (b) OTHER FEDERAL LAW.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para25 graph (2), nothing in this Act shall be construed to 


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1 supersede any Federal statute or regulation relating 

2 to information privacy. 

3 (2) COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.—Insofar as 

4 any provision of the Communications Act of 1934 

5 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) or any regulations promul6 gated under that Act apply to any person, partner7 ship, or corporation subject to this Act with respect 

8 to privacy policies, terms of service, and practices 

9 covered by this Act, the provision or regulations 

10 shall have no force or effect, unless the regulations 

11 pertain to emergency services. 

Æ 


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