HR 2102 PCS 
tion by the covered person of alleged criminal conduct or 
as the result of the commission of alleged criminal or 
tortious conduct by the covered person, including any 
physical evidence or visual or audio recording of the con-
duct, if a Federal court determines that the party seeking 
to compel such disclosure has exhausted all other reason-
able efforts to obtain the information, record, document, 
or item, respectively, from alternative sources. The pre-
vious sentence shall not apply, and subsections (a) and 
(b) shall apply, in the case that the alleged criminal con-
duct observed by the covered person or the alleged crimi-
nal or tortious conduct committed by the covered person 
is the act of transmitting or communicating the informa-
tion, record, document, or item sought for disclosure. 
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 
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. 
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(b) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY PROVIDED TO COV-
ERED PERSONS.—A court may compel the testimony or 
disclosure of a document under this section only after the 
party seeking such a document provides the covered per-
son who is a party to the business transaction described 
in subsection (a)— 
(1) notice of the subpoena or other compulsory 
request for such testimony or disclosure from the 
communications 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. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COMMUNICATIONS
SERVICE
PROVIDER.— 
The term ‘‘communications service provider’’— 
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(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 
person’’ means a person who regularly gathers, pre-
pares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, 
reports, or publishes news or information that con-
cerns local, national, or international events or other 
matters of public interest for dissemination to the 
public for a substantial portion of the person’s liveli-
hood or for substantial financial gain and includes a 
supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate 
of such covered person. Such term shall not in-
clude— 
(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 Intel-
ligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 
1801); 
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(B) any organization designated by the 
Secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organi-
zation in accordance with section 219 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1189); 
(C) any person included on the Annex to 
Executive Order No. 13224, of September 23, 
2001, and any other person identified under 
section 1 of that Executive order whose prop-
erty and interests in property are blocked by 
that section; 
(D) any person who is a specially des-
ignated terrorist, as that term is defined in sec-
tion 595.311 of title 31, Code of Federal Regu-
lations (or any successor thereto); or 
(E) any terrorist organization, as that 
term is defined in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(II) 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)(II)). 
(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 en-
tity’’ means an entity or employee of the judicial or 
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executive 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 pub-
lic. 
Passed the House of Representatives October 16, 
2007. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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Calendar No. 428 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 2102 
AN ACT 
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 18, 2007 
Read the second time and placed on the calendar 
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