I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3511
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require vendors of multichannel 
services to protect the privacy of their customers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 18, 2003
Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require ven-
dors of multichannel services to protect the privacy of 
their customers, 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 ‘‘Video Programming 
Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The personal privacy of Americans in the 
digital age is of increasing concern to consumers and
public policy must strive to keep up with changes in 
technology. 
(2) The cable television industry has long pro-
vided video programming to millions of consumers 
over cable systems capable of collecting personal in-
formation about a subscriber’s viewing habits. 
(3) Congress recognized the growing threat to 
personal privacy posed by the emerging cable sys-
tem-based technology and in 1984 enacted privacy 
protections contained in section 631 of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 551), to safeguard 
the personal privacy of American consumers when 
they utilize any service over a cable system. 
(4) Under these rules, cable television operators 
utilizing their cable facilities to offer television pro-
gramming, pay-per-view services, or telecommuni-
cations services, such as broadband access to the 
Internet, must protect the personal privacy of sub-
scribers and are prohibited from disclosing personal 
data without the prior written or electronic consent 
of subscribers. 
(5) In addition, the Video Privacy Protection 
Act (18 U.S.C. 2710) prohibits a video rental or 
sales outlet from disclosing personal information re-
garding what video tapes a consumer rents or buys
without the informed, written consent of the con-
sumer. 
(6) Since these personal privacy protections 
were enacted by Congress, other technology has ar-
rived that provides services to consumers that are 
similar to those provided by cable operators and 
video rental outlets. 
(7) For example, direct broadcast satellite pro-
viders (‘‘DBS providers’’), such as DirecTV and 
Echostar, now boast 20 million subscribers nation-
wide and these satellite-based services compete with 
cable operators on the array of services that cable 
operators typically offer. 
(8) In addition, over 1 million consumers now 
subscribe to fast-growing digital video recording 
services, such as those provided by companies such 
as Tivo and Replay TV, which, like cable operators 
and DBS providers, possess the ability to gather in-
formation from consumers about a consumer’s use 
of the system, including an individual consumer’s 
television viewing habits. 
(9) While DBS providers and providers of dig-
ital video recording services offer consumers services 
similar to those offered by cable operators over cable 
systems, competitors utilizing these technologies do
not currently have to comply with the privacy pro-
tections in section 631 because such provisions apply 
only to cable operators. 
(10) Consistent with the policy endorsed by 
Congress in enacting the Telecommunications Act of 
1996 of regulating entities based upon the service 
which is provided rather than the technology used to 
deliver that service, the public interest compels that 
privacy protections for consumers should be consist-
ently applied irrespective of who the provider is, or 
what technology they employ to deliver services to 
consumers. 
(11) While DBS providers and providers of dig-
ital video recording services have not announced 
plans to or record the personal viewing habits or 
gather other personal data from a consumer’s use of 
their services, the public interest would be served by 
requiring comparable privacy protections for Amer-
ican consumers. 
SEC. 3. PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS. 
Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 715. PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS FOR VENDORS OF 
MULTICHANNEL SERVICES. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
‘‘(1) MULTICHANNEL SERVICES VENDOR.—The 
term ‘multichannel services vendor’ means—
‘‘(A) a multichannel video programming 
distributor, as such term is defined in section 
602; and 
‘‘(B) a person that has access to informa-
tion concerning the video programming that a 
customer views, displays, or records through the 
provision of video programming, recording serv-
ices, navigation devices, software, or program-
ming guides, interactive communications equip-
ment, or other equipment used by consumers to 
access multichannel video programming or 
other services offered over multichannel service 
systems or the Internet; 
except that such term does not include a cable oper-
ator to the extent that the cable operator is subject 
to section 631. 
‘‘(2) MULTICHANNEL
SERVICES.—The term 
‘multichannel services’ means a video programming 
service or other service provided to consumers, in-
cluding services that enable consumers to navigate, 
record, or replay video services, except that such 
term does not include cable service to the extent that
the cable operator providing such service is subject 
to section 631. 
‘‘(3) PERSONALLY
IDENTIFIABLE
INFORMA-
TION.—The term ‘personally identifiable informa-
tion’ does not include any record of aggregate data 
which does not identify particular persons. 
‘‘(4) OTHER SERVICE.—The term ‘other serv-
ice’ includes any wire or radio communications serv-
ice provided using any of the facilities of a multi-
channel services vendor that are used in the provi-
sion of multichannel services. 
‘‘(b) NOTICE OBLIGATION.—At the time of entering 
into an agreement to provide any multichannel service or 
other service to a subscriber and at least once a year 
thereafter, a multichannel service vendor shall provide no-
tice in the form of a separate, written statement to such 
subscriber which clearly and conspicuously informs the 
subscriber of— 
‘‘(A) the nature of personally identifiable infor-
mation collected or to be collected with respect to
the subscriber and the nature of the use of such in-
formation; 
‘‘(B) the nature, frequency, and purpose of any 
disclosure which may be made of such information,
including an identification of the types of persons to 
whom the disclosure may be made; 
‘‘(C) the period during which such information 
will be maintained by the multichannel service ven-
dor; 
‘‘(D) the times and place at which the sub-
scriber may have access to such information in ac-
cordance with subsection (e); and 
‘‘(E) the limitations provided by this section 
with respect to the collection and disclosure of infor-
mation by a multichannel service vendor and the 
right of the subscriber under subsections (g) and (i) 
to enforce such limitations. 
In the case of subscribers who have entered into such an 
agreement before the effective date of this section, such 
notice shall be provided within 180 days of such date and 
at least once a year thereafter. 
‘‘(c) RESTRICTIONS ON USE.—
‘‘(1) USE PROHIBITED WITHOUT CONSENT.—
Except as provided in paragraph (2), a multichannel 
service vendor shall not use its provision of multi-
channel services to collect personally identifiable in-
formation concerning any subscriber without the 
prior written or electronic consent of the subscriber 
concerned.
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—A multichannel service ven-
dor may use its provision of multichannel services to 
collect such information in order to—
‘‘(A) obtain information necessary to 
render a multichannel service or other service 
provided by the multichannel service vendor to 
the subscriber; or 
‘‘(B) detect unauthorized reception of mul-
tichannel service. 
‘‘(d) RESTRICTIONS ON DISCLOSURE.—
‘‘(1) DISCLOSURE PROHIBITED WITHOUT CON-
SENT.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), a mul-
tichannel service vendor shall not disclose personally 
identifiable information concerning any subscriber 
without the prior written or electronic consent of the 
subscriber concerned and shall take such actions as 
are necessary to prevent unauthorized access to such 
information by a person other than the subscriber or 
multichannel service vendor. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—A multichannel service ven-
dor may disclose such information if the disclosure 
is—
‘‘(A) necessary to render, or conduct a le-
gitimate business activity related to, a multi-
channel service or other service provided by the 
multichannel service vendor to the subscriber; 
‘‘(B) subject to subsection (i), made pursu-
ant to a court order authorizing such disclo-
sure, if the subscriber is notified of such order 
by the person to whom the order is directed; 
‘‘(C) a disclosure of the names and ad-
dresses of subscribers to any multichannel serv-
ice or other service, if—
‘‘(i) the multichannel service vendor 
has provided the subscriber the oppor-
tunity to prohibit or limit such disclosure; 
and 
‘‘(ii) the disclosure does not reveal, di-
rectly or indirectly, the—
‘‘(I) extent of any viewing or 
other use by the subscriber of a multi-
channel services or other service pro-
vided by the multichannel service ven-
dor; or 
‘‘(II) the nature of any trans-
action made by the subscriber of the 
multichannel service vendor; or 
‘‘(D) to a government entity as authorized 
under chapter 119, 121, or 206 of title 18,
United States Code, except that such disclosure 
shall not include records revealing multichannel 
service subscriber selection of video program-
ming from a multichannel service vendor. 
‘‘(e) ACCESS BY SUBSCRIBER TO INFORMATION.—A 
multichannel service subscriber shall be provided access to 
all personally identifiable information regarding that sub-
scriber which is collected and maintained by a multi-
channel service vendor. Such information shall be made 
available to the subscriber at reasonable times and at a 
convenient place designated by such multichannel service 
vendor. A multichannel service subscriber shall be pro-
vided reasonable opportunity to correct any error in such 
information. 
‘‘(f) DESTRUCTION
OF
INFORMATION.—A multi-
channel service vendor shall destroy personally identifiable 
information if the information is no longer necessary for 
the purpose for which it was collected and there are no 
pending requests or orders for access to such information 
under subsection (e) or pursuant to a court order. 
‘‘(g) REMEDIES.—
‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTIONS.—Any person aggrieved by 
any act of a multichannel service vendor in violation 
of this section may bring a civil action in a United 
States district court.
‘‘(2) ACTUAL AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES; FEES 
AND COSTS.—The court may award—
‘‘(A) actual damages but not less than liq-
uidated damages computed at the rate of $100 
a day for each day of violation or $1,000, 
whichever is higher; 
‘‘(B) punitive damages; and 
‘‘(C) reasonable attorneys’ fees and other 
litigation costs reasonably incurred. 
‘‘(3) REMEDIES NOT EXCLUSIVE.—The remedy 
provided by this section shall be in addition to any 
other lawful remedy available to a multichannel serv-
ice subscriber. 
‘‘(h) PRESERVATION OF STATE AUTHORITY.—Noth-
ing in this title shall be construed to prohibit any State 
from enacting or enforcing laws consistent with this sec-
tion for the protection of subscriber privacy. 
‘‘(i) BASIS FOR COURT ORDERS.—Except as provided 
in subsection (d)(2)(D), a governmental entity may obtain 
personally identifiable information concerning a multi-
channel service subscriber pursuant to a court order only 
if, in the court proceeding relevant to such court order—
‘‘(1) such entity offers clear and convincing evi-
dence that the subject of the information is reason-
ably suspected of engaging in criminal activity and
that the information sought would be material evi-
dence in the case; and 
‘‘(2) the subject of the information is afforded 
the opportunity to appear and contest such entity’s 
claim.’’.
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