I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4659 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 22, 2021 
Mrs. MCCLAIN (for herself, Mr. BABIN, Mr. CAWTHORN, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. 
OWENS, and Mr. STEUBE) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
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 sensi-
tivity of the information, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Balancing the Rights 
Of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly Act of 2021’’ 
or the ‘‘BROWSER Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘broadband 
internet access service’’ means a mass-market 
retail service by wire or radio that provides the 
capability to transmit data to and receive data 
from all or substantially all internet endpoints, 
including any capabilities that are incidental to 
and enable the operation of the communications 
service, but excluding dial-up internet access 
service. 
(B) 
FUNCTIONAL
EQUIVALENT; 
EVA-
SION.—The term ‘‘broadband internet access 
service’’ includes any service that— 
(i) the Commission finds to be pro-
viding a functional equivalent of the service 
described in subparagraph (A); or 
(ii) is used to evade the protections 
set forth in this Act. 
(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Trade Commission. 
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(3) COVERED
SERVICE.—The term ‘‘covered 
service’’ means— 
(A) broadband internet access service; or 
(B) an edge service. 
(4) EDGE
SERVICE.—The term ‘‘edge serv-
ice’’— 
(A) means a service provided over the 
internet— 
(i) for which the provider requires the 
user to subscribe or establish an account in 
order to use the service; 
(ii) that the user purchases from the 
provider of the service without a subscrip-
tion or account; 
(iii) by which a program searches for 
and identifies items in a database that cor-
respond to keywords or characters speci-
fied by the user, used especially for finding 
particular sites on the world wide web; or 
(iv) by which the user divulges sen-
sitive user information; and 
(B) includes a service described in sub-
paragraph (A) that is provided through a soft-
ware program, including a mobile application. 
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(5) EMERGENCY SERVICES.—The term ‘‘emer-
gency services’’ has the meaning given the term in 
section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 222). 
(6) MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘material’’ means, 
with respect to a change in a privacy policy of a pro-
vider of a covered service, any change in the policy 
that a user of the service, acting reasonably under 
the circumstances, would consider important to the 
decisions of the user regarding the privacy of the 
user, including any change to information required 
to be included in a privacy notice under section 3. 
(7) MOBILE APPLICATION.—The term ‘‘mobile 
application’’ means a software program that runs on 
the operating system of a mobile device. 
(8) NON-SENSITIVE USER INFORMATION.—The 
term ‘‘non-sensitive user information’’ means any 
user information that is not sensitive user informa-
tion. 
(9) OPT-IN APPROVAL.—The term ‘‘opt-in ap-
proval’’ means a method for obtaining from a user 
of a covered service consent to use, disclose, or per-
mit access to sensitive user information under which 
the provider of the service obtains express consent 
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allowing the requested usage of, disclosure of, or ac-
cess to the sensitive user information. 
(10) OPT-OUT APPROVAL.—The term ‘‘opt-out 
approval’’ means a method for obtaining from a user 
of a covered service consent to use, disclose, or per-
mit access to non-sensitive user information under 
which the user is deemed to have consented to the 
use of, disclosure of, or access to the non-sensitive 
user information if the user has failed to object to 
the use, disclosure, or access. 
(11) PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.—The 
term ‘‘public safety answering point’’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 222 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222). 
(12) SENSITIVE
USER
INFORMATION.—The 
term ‘‘sensitive user information’’ includes any of 
the following: 
(A) Financial information. 
(B) Health information. 
(C) Information pertaining to children 
under the age of 13. 
(D) Social Security number. 
(E) Precise geolocation information. 
(F) Content of communications. 
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