I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2929
To protect users of the Internet from unknowing transmission of their person-
ally identifiable information through spyware programs, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2003
Mrs. BONO (for herself and Mr. TOWNS) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To protect users of the Internet from unknowing trans-
mission of their personally identifiable information 
through spyware programs, 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 ‘‘Safeguard Against Pri-
vacy Invasions Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FTC AUTHORITY TO REGULATE TRANSMISSION OF 
SPYWARE PROGRAMS. 
(a) PROHIBITION OF TRANSMISSION WITHOUT CON-
SENT.—The Federal Trade Commission shall, by regula-
tion, prohibit the transmission of a spyware program to 
a covered computer by means of the Internet, unless the 
user of the covered computer expressly consents to such 
transmission in response to a clear and conspicuous re-
quest for such consent or through an affirmative request 
for such transmission. 
(b) TRANSMISSION PURSUANT TO LICENSE AGREE-
MENTS.—The Federal Trade Commission shall, by regula-
tion, establish requirements for the transmission of a 
spyware program to a covered computer, by means of the 
Internet, in any case in which the transmission of the 
spyware program, or any information, program, or com-
munication together or in connection with which the 
spyware program is transmitted, requires any affirmative 
action on the part of the user of the covered computer 
to agree to a license, contract, or other agreement which 
is made available on the World Wide Web, as follows: 
(1) LOCATION OF LICENSE AGREEMENT.—The 
terms of such license, contract, or agreement shall 
be set forth on a World Wide Web page and the 
mechanism by which the user of the covered com-
puter agrees to such license, contract, or agreement 
shall be included on the same page. 
(2) NOTICE.—The terms of the license, con-
tract, or other agreement shall—
(A) include provisions, that are clearly 
stated and prominently displayed, which specify 
that agreement to such license, contract, or 
other agreement constitutes consent to trans-
mission of the spyware for purposes of sub-
section (a); and 
(B) clearly explain the purpose of including 
the spyware. 
(3) IDENTIFICATION.—The name of the person 
or entity transmitting the spyware, a valid physical 
street address of such person or entity, and a func-
tioning return electronic mail address for such per-
son or entity shall be included on the World Wide 
Web page referred to in paragraph (1). 
(c) NOTICE OF COLLECTION OF PERSONALLY IDEN-
TIFIABLE INFORMATION.—The Federal Trade Commis-
sion shall, by regulation, prohibit the use of any spyware 
program that is transmitted to a covered computer by 
means of the Internet for collecting any personally identi-
fiable information from the covered computer, unless no-
tice that the program will be used for such collection is 
provided—
(1) in any license, contract, or other agreement 
covering the spyware program or the information, 
program, or communication together with which, or
in connection with which, the spyware program is 
transmitted; and 
(2) in another prominent location, as the Com-
mission shall provide. 
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) ENFORCEMENT THROUGH FTC ACT.—
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACT
OR
PRAC-
TICE.—A violation of any provision of this Act or 
any regulation issued under this Act is an unfair or 
deceptive act or practice unlawful under section 
5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 
U.S.C. 45(a)(1)). 
(2) GUIDELINES AND OPINIONS.—In order to 
assist in compliance with this Act, the Federal 
Trade Commission may issue generally applicable 
guidelines and, upon request, advisory opinions with 
respect to specific types of acts or practices that 
would, or would not, comply with this Act. 
(b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Whoever—
(1) violates section 2(c) or the regulations 
issued under such section, or 
(2) knowingly violates any other provision of 
this Act or any regulation issued under this Act, 
shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or im-
prisoned for not more than 1 year, or both.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act: 
(1) COMPUTER; 
COVERED
COMPUTER.—The 
terms ‘‘computer’’ and ‘‘covered computer’’ have the 
meanings given such terms in section 1030(e) of 
title 18, United States Code. 
(2) INTERNET.—The term ‘‘Internet’’ means 
collectively the myriad of computer and tele-
communications facilities, including equipment and 
operating software, which comprise the inter-
connected world-wide network of networks that em-
ploy the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet 
Protocol, or any predecessor or successor protocols 
to such protocol, to communicate information of all 
kinds by wire or radio. 
(3) SPYWARE PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘spyware 
program’’ means any computer program or software 
that can be used to transmit from a computer, or 
that has the capability of so transmitting, by means 
of the Internet and without any action on the part 
of the user of the computer to initiate such trans-
mission, information regarding the user of the com-
puter, regarding the use of the computer, or that is 
stored on the computer. In issuing regulations to 
carry out this paragraph, the Commission shall dis-
tinguish spyware programs from other commonly
used computer programs used to share information 
among computers in an organized network of com-
puters. 
(4) PAGE.—The term ‘‘page’’ means, with re-
spect to the World Wide Web, a location that has a 
single Uniform Resource Locator or other single lo-
cation with respect to the Internet, as the Commis-
sion may prescribe. 
(5) 
PERSONALLY
IDENTIFIABLE
INFORMA-
TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifiable informa-
tion’’ does not include any record of aggregate data 
that does not identify particular persons, particular 
computers, particular users of computers, or par-
ticular email addresses or other locations of com-
puters with respect to the Internet. 
SEC. 5. REGULATIONS. 
The Commission shall issue regulations necessary to 
carry out this Act not later than 90 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.
Æ