IB 
Union Calendar No. 213 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1319 
[Report No. 111–361] 
To prevent the inadvertent disclosure of information on a computer through 
the use of certain ‘‘peer-to-peer’’ file sharing software without first pro-
viding notice and obtaining consent from the owner or authorized user 
of the computer. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 5, 2009 
Mrs. BONO MACK (for herself, Mr. BARROW, and Mr. BARTON of Texas) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
DECEMBER 8, 2009 
Additional sponsors: Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. 
GONZALEZ, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. SPACE, Mr. 
STUPAK, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. DONNELLY of 
Indiana, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. BOREN, Mr. GRAYSON, 
Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, 
Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. HILL, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. SCOTT of 
Georgia, Mr. CLAY, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. WEINER, Mr. PERLMUTTER, 
Mr. CHILDERS, Mr. TANNER, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. ISSA, Mrs. BLACKBURN, 
and Mr. RADANOVICH 
DECEMBER 8, 2009 
Deleted sponsor: Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California (added March 16, 2009; 
deleted March 26, 2009) 
DECEMBER 8, 2009 
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[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 March 5, 2009] 
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A BILL 
To prevent the inadvertent disclosure of information on a 
computer through the use of certain ‘‘peer-to-peer’’ file 
sharing software without first providing notice and ob-
taining consent from the owner or authorized user of 
the computer. 
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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 ‘‘Informed P2P User 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CONDUCT PROHIBITED. 
(a) NOTICE AND CONSENT REQUIRED FOR FILE-SHAR-
ING SOFTWARE.— 
(1) NOTICE AND CONSENT REQUIRED PRIOR TO 
INSTALLATION.—It is unlawful for any covered entity 
to install on a protected computer or offer or make 
available for installation or download on a protected 
computer a covered file-sharing program unless such 
program— 
(A) immediately prior to the installation or 
downloading of such program— 
(i) provides clear and conspicuous no-
tice that such program allows files on the 
protected computer to be made available for 
searching and copying to one or more other 
computers; and 
(ii) obtains the informed consent to the 
installation of such program from an owner 
or authorized user of the protected com-
puter; and 
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(B) immediately prior to initial activation 
of a file-sharing function of such program— 
(i) provides clear and conspicuous no-
tice of which files on the protected computer 
are to be made available for searching and 
copying to another computer; and 
(ii) obtains the informed consent from 
an owner or authorized user of the protected 
computer for such files to be made available 
for searching and copying to another com-
puter. 
(2) NON-APPLICATION TO PRE-INSTALLED SOFT-
WARE.—Nothing in subparagraph (A) shall apply to 
the installation of a covered file-sharing program on 
a computer prior to the first sale of such computer to 
an end user, provided that notice is provided to the 
end user who first purchases the computer that such 
a program has been installed on the computer. 
(b) PREVENTING THE DISABLING OR REMOVAL OF 
CERTAIN SOFTWARE.—It is unlawful for any covered enti-
ty— 
(1) to prevent the reasonable efforts of an owner 
or authorized user of a protected computer from block-
ing the installation of a covered file-sharing program 
or file-sharing function thereof; or 
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(2) to prevent an owner or authorized user of a 
protected computer from having a reasonable means 
to either— 
(A) disable from the protected computer any 
covered file-sharing program; or 
(B) remove from the protected computer any 
covered file-sharing program that the covered en-
tity caused to be installed on that computer or 
induced another individual to install. 
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES.— 
A violation of section 2 shall be treated as a violation of 
a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice pre-
scribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 
(b) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ENFORCEMENT.— 
The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the 
same manner, by the same means, and with the same juris-
diction as though all applicable terms and provisions of the 
Federal Trade Commission Act were incorporated into and 
made a part of this Act. 
(c) PRESERVATION OF FEDERAL AND STATE AUTHOR-
ITY.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or su-
persede any other Federal or State law. 
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SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘commercial entity’’ means an enti-
ty engaged in acts or practices in or affecting com-
merce, as such term is defined in section 4 of the Fed-
eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44); 
(2) the term ‘‘covered entity’’ means— 
(A) a commercial entity that develops a cov-
ered file-sharing program; and 
(B) a commercial entity that disseminates 
or distributes a covered file-sharing program and 
is owned or operated by the commercial entity 
that developed the covered file-sharing program; 
(3) the term ‘‘protected computer’’ has the mean-
ing given such term in section 1030(e)(2) of title 18, 
United States Code; and 
(4) the term ‘‘covered file-sharing program’’— 
(A) means a program, application, or soft-
ware that is commercially marketed or distrib-
uted to the public and that enables— 
(i) a file or files on the computer on 
which such program is installed to be des-
ignated as available for searching and copy-
ing to one or more other computers; 
(ii) the searching of files on the com-
puter on which such program is installed 
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and the copying of any such file to another 
computer— 
(I) at the initiative of such other 
computer and without requiring any 
action by an owner or authorized user 
of the computer on which such pro-
gram is installed; and 
(II) without requiring an owner 
or authorized user of the computer on 
which such program is installed to 
have selected or designated another 
computer as the recipient of any such 
file; and 
(iii) an owner or authorized user of the 
computer on which such program is in-
stalled to search files on one or more other 
computers using the same or a compatible 
program, application, or software, and copy 
such files to such owner or user’s computer; 
and 
(B) does not include a program, applica-
tion, or software designed primarily to— 
(i) operate as a server that is accessible 
over the Internet using the Internet Domain 
Name system; 
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