SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Balancing the Rights 
Of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly Act of 2017’’ 
or the ‘‘BROWSER Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. NOTICE OF PRIVACY POLICIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a covered service 
shall provide the users of the service with notice of the 
privacy policies of the provider with respect to the service. 
Such notice shall be clear and conspicuous. 
(b) AVAILABILITY
TO PROSPECTIVE USERS.—The 
notice required by subsection (a) shall be made available 
to prospective users— 
(1) at the point of sale of, subscription to, or 
establishment of an account for the covered service, 
prior to such sale, subscription, or establishment, 
whether such point of sale, subscription, or estab-
lishment is in person, online, over the telephone, or 
through another means; or 
(2) if there is no such sale, subscription, or es-
tablishment, before the user uses the service. 
(c) PERSISTENT AVAILABILITY.—The notice required 
by subsection (a) shall be made persistently available. 
(d) MATERIAL CHANGES.—A provider of a covered 
service shall provide users with advance notice of any ma-
terial change to the privacy policies of the provider. The 
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notice required by this subsection shall be clear and con-
spicuous. 
SEC. 3. USER OPT-IN OR OPT-OUT APPROVAL RIGHTS 
BASED ON SENSITIVITY OF INFORMATION. 
(a) OPT-IN APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR SENSITIVE 
USER INFORMATION.—Except as provided in subsection 
(c), a provider of a covered service shall obtain opt-in ap-
proval from a user to use, disclose, or permit access to 
the sensitive user information of the user. 
(b) OPT-OUT APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR NON-SEN-
SITIVE USER INFORMATION.—Except as provided in sub-
section (c)— 
(1) a provider of a covered service shall obtain 
opt-out approval from a user to use, disclose, or per-
mit access to any of the non-sensitive user informa-
tion of the user; or 
(2) if the provider so chooses, the provider may 
comply with the requirement of paragraph (1) by ob-
taining opt-in approval from the user to use, dis-
close, or permit access to any such non-sensitive 
user information. 
(c) LIMITATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS.—A provider of 
a covered service may use, disclose, or permit access to 
user information without user approval for the following 
purposes: 
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(1) In providing the covered service from which 
such information is derived, or in providing services 
necessary to, or used in, the provision of such serv-
ice. 
(2) To initiate, render, bill, and collect for the 
covered service. 
(3) To protect the rights or property of the pro-
vider, or to protect users of the covered service and 
other service providers from fraudulent, abusive, or 
unlawful use of the service. 
(4) To provide location information or non-sen-
sitive user information— 
(A) to a public safety answering point, 
emergency medical service provider or emer-
gency dispatch provider, public safety, fire serv-
ice, or law enforcement official, or hospital 
emergency or trauma care facility, in order to 
respond to the request of the user for emer-
gency services; 
(B) to inform the legal guardian of the 
user, or members of the immediate family of 
the user, of the location of the user in an emer-
gency situation that involves the risk of death 
or serious physical harm; or 
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(C) to providers of information or database 
management services solely for purposes of as-
sisting in the delivery of emergency services in 
response to an emergency. 
(5) As otherwise required or authorized by law. 
(d) MECHANISM
FOR
EXERCISING
USER
AP-
PROVAL.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a covered serv-
ice shall make available a simple, easy-to-use mecha-
nism for users to grant, deny, or withdraw opt-in 
approval or opt-out approval at any time. 
(2) FORM AND MANNER.—The mechanism re-
quired by paragraph (1) shall be— 
(A) clear and conspicuous; and 
(B) made available— 
(i) at no additional cost to the user; 
and 
(ii) in a language other than English, 
if the provider transacts business with the 
user in such other language. 
(3) EFFECT.—The grant, denial, or withdrawal 
of opt-in approval or opt-out approval by a user 
shall— 
(A) be given effect promptly; and 
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(B) remain in effect until the user revokes 
or limits such grant, denial, or withdrawal of 
approval. 
SEC. 4. SERVICE OFFERS CONDITIONED ON WAIVERS OF 
PRIVACY RIGHTS. 
A provider of a covered service may not— 
(1) condition, or effectively condition, provision 
of such service on agreement by a user to waive pri-
vacy rights guaranteed by law or regulation, includ-
ing this Act; or 
(2) terminate such service or otherwise refuse 
to provide such service as a direct or indirect con-
sequence of the refusal of a user to waive any such 
privacy rights. 
SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 
(a) GENERAL APPLICATION.—The requirements of 
this Act apply, according to their terms, to— 
(1) those persons, partnerships, and corpora-
tions over which the Commission has authority pur-
suant to section 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade Com-
mission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)); and 
(2) providers of broadband internet access serv-
ice, notwithstanding the exception in such section for 
common carriers subject to the Communications Act 
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 
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(b) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 
A violation of this Act shall be treated as an unfair or 
deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce for pur-
poses of section 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade Commission 
Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)). 
(c) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—Except as provided in 
subsection (a)(2) of this section— 
(1) the Commission shall enforce this Act in the 
same manner, by the same means, and with the 
same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 
applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor-
porated into and made a part of this Act; and 
(2) any person who violates this Act shall be 
subject to the penalties and entitled to the privileges 
and immunities provided in the Federal Trade Com-
mission Act. 
SEC. 6. 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, 
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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.—Such term also 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. 
(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; 
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(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. 
(5) EMERGENCY SERVICES.—The term ‘‘emer-
gency services’’ has the meaning given such 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 such 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 2. 
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(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 
allowing the requested usage, disclosure, or access 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, disclosure, or access to the non-sensitive user 
information if the user has failed to object to such 
use, disclosure, or access. 
(11) PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINT.—The 
term ‘‘public safety answering point’’ has the mean-
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ing given such term in section 222 of the Commu-
nications 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 geo-location information. 
(F) Content of communications. 
(G) Web browsing history, history of usage 
of a software program (including a mobile ap-
plication), and the functional equivalents of ei-
ther. 
(13) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 
Samoa, the Virgin Islands of the United States, the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
any other territory or possession of the United 
States, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 
(14) USER.—The term ‘‘user’’ means, with re-
spect to a covered service, a person who— 
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(A) is a current or former— 
(i) subscriber to such service; or 
(ii) holder of an account for such serv-
ice; 
(B) purchases such service without a sub-
scription or account; 
(C) is an applicant for such service; or 
(D) in the case of a service described in 
clause (iii) or (iv) of paragraph (4)(A), uses the 
service. 
(15) USER INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘user in-
formation’’ means any information that— 
(A) a provider of a covered service acquires 
in connection with the provision of such service; 
and 
(B) is linked or reasonably linkable to an 
individual. 
SEC. 7. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW. 
(a) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.—No State or polit-
ical subdivision of a State shall, with respect to a provider 
of a covered service subject to this Act, adopt, maintain, 
enforce, or impose or continue in effect any law, rule, reg-
ulation, duty, requirement, standard, or other provision 
having the force and effect of law relating to or with re-
spect to the privacy of user information. 
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(b) OTHER FEDERAL LAW.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), nothing in this Act shall be construed to 
supercede any other Federal statute or regulation 
relating to information privacy. 
(2) COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.—Insofar as 
any provision of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) or any regulations promul-
gated under such Act apply to any person, partner-
ship, or corporation subject to this Act with respect 
to privacy policies, terms of service, and practices 
covered by this Act, such provision of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 or such regulations shall have 
no force or effect, unless such regulations pertain to 
emergency services. 
Æ 
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