I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4731 
To require owners of Internet websites to destroy obsolete data containing 
personal information. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 8, 2006 
Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To require owners of Internet websites to destroy obsolete 
data containing personal information. 
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 
‘‘Eliminate 
Warehousing of Consumer Internet Data Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) As the Nation’s communications networks 
continue to grow and become ever more sophisti-
cated, more individuals and industries will be using
such networks to communicate and conduct commer-
cial transactions. 
(2) The ease of gathering and compiling per-
sonal information during such communications, both 
overtly and surreptitiously, is becoming increasingly 
efficient and almost effortless due to advances in 
digital telecommunications technology and the wide-
spread use of the Internet. 
(3) Consumers have an ownership interest in 
their personal information. 
(4) Information gathered about consumers over 
the Internet can provide detail about some of the 
most intimate aspects of an individual’s life, includ-
ing their Internet interests, communications with 
other citizens, purchases, information inquiries, and 
political or religious interests, affiliations, or speech. 
(5) Certain information about Internet searches 
or website visits conducted from a particular com-
puter can be obtained and stored by websites or 
search engines, and can be traced back to individual 
computer users. 
(6) Fair information practices include providing 
consumers with knowledge of any data collection, 
conspicuous consumer notice of an entity’s data 
practices, consumer choice to provide consent or
deny authorization for such practices, access to data 
collected, safeguards to ensure data integrity, and 
contact information. 
(7) In order to safeguard consumer privacy in-
terests, companies that gather personal information 
that can identify individual consumers should cease 
to store such information after it is no longer nec-
essary to render service to such consumers or to con-
duct any legitimate business practice. 
(8) Cable operators, who can gather personal 
information about a subscriber’s use of the cable 
system and obtain information about a consumer’s 
video programming choices and use of their cable 
modem are currently required under section 631 of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 551) to 
destroy any personal information gathered from a 
subscriber after it is no longer necessary for the pur-
pose for which it was gathered and if there are no 
other pending legal requests for such information. 
(9) A similar obligation should govern informa-
tion gathered about consumers by Internet websites, 
which often possess information about computer 
users which is more detailed, and arguably more 
personalized, than information cable operators typi-
cally gather.
SEC. 3. DESTRUCTION OF DATA WITH PERSONAL INFORMA-
TION BY INTERNET WEBSITES. 
An owner of an Internet website shall destroy, within 
a reasonable period of time, any data containing personal 
information if the information is no longer necessary for 
the purpose for which it was collected or any other legiti-
mate business purpose, or there are no pending requests 
or orders for access to such information pursuant to a 
court order. 
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS-
SION. 
A violation of section 3 shall be treated as a violation 
of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice 
prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The Federal 
Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the same man-
ner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction 
as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Fed-
eral Trade Commission Act were incorporated into and 
made a part of this Act. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act the following definitions apply: 
(1) The term ‘‘Internet’’ means collectively the 
myriad of computer and telecommunications facili-
ties, including equipment and operating software, 
which comprise the interconnected world-wide net-
work of networks that employ the Transmission 
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or any prede-
cessor or successor protocols to such protocol, to 
communicate information of all kinds by wire or 
radio. 
(2) The term ‘‘personal information’’— 
(A) means information that allows a living 
person to be identified individually, including 
the following: the first and last name of an indi-
vidual, a home or physical address of an indi-
vidual, date or place of birth, an email address, 
a telephone number, a Social Security number, 
a tax identification number, birth certificate 
number, passport number, driver’s license num-
ber, credit card number, bank card number, or 
any government-issued identification number; 
and 
(B) does not include any record of aggre-
gate data that does not permit the identifica-
tion of particular persons. 
(3) The term ‘‘web page’’ means a location that 
has a single Uniform Resource Locator or another 
single location with respect to the Internet, as the 
Federal Trade Commission may prescribe.
(4) The term ‘‘Internet website’’ means a col-
lection of web pages that are presented and made 
available by means of the Internet as a single 
website (or a single web page so presented and made 
available), which web pages have any of the fol-
lowing characteristics: 
(A) A common domain name. 
(B) Common ownership, management, or 
registration. 
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