IB
Union Calendar No. 243
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2369
[Report No. 105–425]
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to strengthen and clarify
prohibitions on electronic eavesdropping, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 31, 1997
Mr. TAUZIN (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. GILLMOR, Ms.
ESHOO, and Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
MARCH 3, 1998
Additional sponsors: Mr. MANTON, Mr. WYNN, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota,
Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. CAMPBELL, and Mr. BURTON of Indiana
MARCH 3, 1998
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 31, 1997]
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to strengthen
and clarify prohibitions on electronic eavesdropping, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wireless Privacy En-
hancement Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. COMMERCE IN ELECTRONIC EAVESDROPPING
DEVICES.
(a) PROHIBITION ON MODIFICATION.—Section 302(b)
of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 302a(b)) is
amended by inserting before the period at the end thereof
the following: ‘‘, or modify any such device, equipment, or
system in any manner that causes such device, equipment,
or system to fail to comply with such regulations’’.
(b) PROHIBITION ON COMMERCE IN SCANNING RE-
CEIVERS.—Section 302(d) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 302a(d))
is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(d) EQUIPMENT AUTHORIZATION REGULATIONS.—
‘‘(1) PRIVACY
PROTECTIONS
REQUIRED.—The
Commission shall prescribe regulations, and review
and revise such regulations as necessary in response
to subsequent changes in technology or behavior, deny-
ing equipment authorization (under part 15 of title
47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any other part of
that title) for any scanning receiver that is capable
of—
‘‘(A) receiving transmissions in the fre-
quencies that are allocated to the domestic cel-
lular radio telecommunications service or the
personal communications service;
‘‘(B) readily being altered to receive trans-
missions in such frequencies;
‘‘(C) being equipped with decoders that—
‘‘(i) convert digital domestic cellular
radio telecommunications service, personal
communications service, or protected spe-
cialized mobile radio service transmissions
to analog voice audio; or
‘‘(ii) convert protected paging service
transmissions to alphanumeric text; or
‘‘(D) being equipped with devices that other-
wise decode encrypted radio transmissions for
the purposes of unauthorized interception.
‘‘(2) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR SHARED FRE-
QUENCIES.—The Commission shall, with respect to
scanning receivers capable of receiving transmissions
in frequencies that are used by commercial mobile
services and that are shared by public safety users,
examine methods, and may prescribe such regulations
as may be necessary, to enhance the privacy of users
of such frequencies.
‘‘(3) TAMPERING
PREVENTION.—In prescribing
regulations pursuant to paragraph (1), the Commis-
sion shall consider defining ‘capable of readily being
altered’ to require scanning receivers to be manufac-
tured in a manner that effectively precludes alter-
ation of equipment features and functions as nec-
essary to prevent commerce in devices that may be
used unlawfully to intercept or divulge radio commu-
nication.
‘‘(4) WARNING LABELS.—In prescribing regula-
tions under paragraph (1), the Commission shall con-
sider requiring labels on scanning receivers warning
of the prohibitions in Federal law on intentionally
intercepting or divulging radio communications.
‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this subsection,
the term ‘protected’ means secured by an electronic
method that is not published or disclosed except to au-
thorized users, as further defined by Commission reg-
ulation.’’.
(c) IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS.—Within 90 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu-
nications Commission shall prescribe amendments to its
regulations for the purposes of implementing the amend-
ments made by this section.