IB 
Union Calendar No. 229 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2102 
[Report No. 110–370] 
To maintain the free flow of information to the public by providing conditions 
for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons 
connected with the news media. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 2, 2007 
Mr. BOUCHER (for himself, Mr. PENCE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. COBLE, Mr. 
YARMUTH, and Mr. WALDEN of Oregon) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
OCTOBER 10, 2007 
Additional sponsors: Mr. FLAKE, Mr. FORTUN˜O, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. UDALL of 
New Mexico, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. COHEN, Mr. POE, Ms. 
BERKLEY, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. MACK, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. ESHOO, 
Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. CASTOR, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. 
MCCOTTER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. UPTON, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. WALSH 
of New York, Mr. REYNOLDS, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. 
GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. WALBERG, 
Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. 
LAMPSON, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, 
Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. 
HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. DICKS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. 
MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. WOLF, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. FALLIN, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. GARRETT of New 
Jersey, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. COOPER, Mr. KUHL of New York, Mr. 
WU, and Mr. BLUNT 
OCTOBER 10, 2007 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
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[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 May 2, 2007] 
A BILL 
To maintain the free flow of information to the public by 
providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure 
of information by certain persons connected with the 
news media. 
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 ‘‘Free Flow of Informa-
tion Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. COMPELLED DISCLOSURE FROM COVERED PER-
SONS. 
(a) CONDITIONS FOR COMPELLED DISCLOSURE.—In 
any matter arising under Federal law, a Federal entity 
may not compel a covered person to provide testimony or 
produce any document related to information obtained or 
created by such covered person as part of engaging in jour-
nalism, unless a court determines by a preponderance of 
the evidence, after providing notice and an opportunity to 
be heard to such covered person— 
(1) that the party seeking to compel production 
of such testimony or document has exhausted all rea-
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sonable alternative sources (other than the covered 
person) of the testimony or document; 
(2) that— 
(A) in a criminal investigation or prosecu-
tion, based on information obtained from a per-
son other than the covered person— 
(i) there are reasonable grounds to be-
lieve that a crime has occurred; and 
(ii) the testimony or document sought 
is critical to the investigation or prosecu-
tion or to the defense against the prosecu-
tion; or 
(B) in a matter other than a criminal in-
vestigation or prosecution, based on information 
obtained from a person other than the covered 
person, the testimony or document sought is crit-
ical to the successful completion of the matter; 
(3) in the case that the testimony or document 
sought could reveal the identity of a source of infor-
mation or include any information that could reason-
ably be expected to lead to the discovery of the iden-
tity of such a source, that— 
(A) disclosure of the identity of such a 
source is necessary to prevent an act of terrorism 
against the United States or its allies or other 
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significant and specified harm to national secu-
rity with the objective to prevent such harm; 
(B) disclosure of the identity of such a 
source is necessary to prevent imminent death or 
significant bodily harm with the objective to pre-
vent such death or harm, respectively; or 
(C) disclosure of the identity of such a 
source is necessary to identify a person who has 
disclosed— 
(i) a trade secret, actionable under sec-
tion 1831 or 1832 of title 18, United States 
Code; 
(ii) individually identifiable health in-
formation, as such term is defined in sec-
tion 1171(6) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1320d(6)), actionable under Federal 
law; or 
(iii) nonpublic personal information, 
as such term is defined in section 509(4) of 
the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act (15 U.S.C. 
6809(4)), of any consumer actionable under 
Federal law; and 
(4) that the public interest in compelling disclo-
sure of the information or document involved out-
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weighs the public interest in gathering or dissemi-
nating news or information. 
(b) LIMITATIONS ON CONTENT OF INFORMATION.—The 
content of any testimony or document that is compelled 
under subsection (a) shall— 
(1) not be overbroad, unreasonable, or oppressive 
and, as appropriate, be limited to the purpose of 
verifying published information or describing any 
surrounding circumstances relevant to the accuracy of 
such published information; and 
(2) be narrowly tailored in subject matter and 
period of time covered so as to avoid compelling pro-
duction of peripheral, nonessential, or speculative in-
formation. 
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 
shall be construed as applying to civil defamation, slander, 
or libel claims or defenses under State law, regardless of 
whether or not such claims or defenses, respectively, are 
raised in a State or Federal court. 
SEC. 3. COMPELLED DISCLOSURE FROM COMMUNICATIONS 
SERVICE PROVIDERS. 
(a) CONDITIONS
FOR COMPELLED DISCLOSURE.— 
With respect to testimony or any document consisting of 
any record, information, or other communication that re-
lates to a business transaction between a communications 
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service provider and a covered person, section 2 shall apply 
to such testimony or document if sought from the commu-
nications service provider in the same manner that such 
section applies to any testimony or document sought from 
a covered person. 
(b) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY PROVIDED TO COV-
ERED PERSONS.—A court may compel the testimony or dis-
closure of a document under this section only after the party 
seeking such a document provides the covered person who 
is a party to the business transaction described in sub-
section (a)— 
(1) notice of the subpoena or other compulsory 
request for such testimony or disclosure from the com-
munications service provider not later than the time 
at which such subpoena or request is issued to the 
communications service provider; and 
(2) an opportunity to be heard before the court 
before the time at which the testimony or disclosure 
is compelled. 
(c) EXCEPTION
TO NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—Notice 
under subsection (b)(1) may be delayed only if the court 
involved determines by clear and convincing evidence that 
such notice would pose a substantial threat to the integrity 
of a criminal investigation. 
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SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 
term ‘‘communications service provider’’— 
(A) means any person that transmits infor-
mation of the customer’s choosing by electronic 
means; and 
(B) includes a telecommunications carrier, 
an information service provider, an interactive 
computer service provider, and an information 
content provider (as such terms are defined in 
sections 3 and 230 of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 153, 230)). 
(2) COVERED PERSON.—The term ‘‘covered per-
son’’ means a person who, for financial gain or liveli-
hood, is engaged in journalism and includes a super-
visor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of 
such covered person. Such term shall not include— 
(A) any person who is a foreign power or 
an agent of a foreign power, as such terms are 
defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801); or 
(B) any organization designated by the Sec-
retary of State as a foreign terrorist organiza-
tion in accordance with section 219 of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 
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(3) DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘document’’ means 
writings, recordings, and photographs, as those terms 
are defined by Federal Rule of Evidence 1001 (28 
U.S.C. App.). 
(4) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal enti-
ty’’ means an entity or employee of the judicial or ex-
ecutive branch or an administrative agency of the 
Federal Government with the power to issue a sub-
poena or issue other compulsory process. 
(5) 
JOURNALISM.—The 
term 
‘‘journalism’’ 
means 
the 
gathering, 
preparing, 
collecting, 
photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, 
or publishing of news or information that concerns 
local, national, or international events or other mat-
ters of public interest for dissemination to the public. 
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Union Calendar No. 229 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 2102 
[Report No. 110–370] 
A BILL 
To maintain the free flow of information to the 
public by providing conditions for the federally 
compelled disclosure of information by certain 
persons connected with the news media. 
OCTOBER 10, 2007 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
21:45 Oct 10, 2007
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
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E:\BILLS\H2102.RH
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