II 
Calendar No. 428 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2102 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
OCTOBER 17, 2007 
Received and read the first time 
OCTOBER 18, 2007 
Read the second time and placed on the calendar 
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. 
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’’. 
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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 
journalism, 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 
reasonable alternative sources (other than the cov-
ered 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 
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obtained from a person other than the covered 
person, the testimony or document sought is 
critical to the successful completion of the mat-
ter; 
(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, or to identify 
any perpetrator of, an act of terrorism against 
the United States or its allies or other signifi-
cant and specified harm to national security 
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 
prevent such death or harm, respectively; 
(C) disclosure of the identity of such a 
source is necessary to identify a person who has 
disclosed— 
(i) a trade secret, actionable under 
section 1831 or 1832 of title 18, United 
States Code; 
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(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 Fed-
eral 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; or 
(D)(i) disclosure of the identity of such a 
source is essential to identify in a criminal in-
vestigation or prosecution a person who without 
authorization disclosed properly classified infor-
mation and who at the time of such disclosure 
had authorized access to such information; and 
(ii) such unauthorized disclosure has 
caused or will cause significant and articulable 
harm to the national security; and 
(4) that the public interest in compelling disclo-
sure of the information or document involved out-
weighs the public interest in gathering or dissemi-
nating news or information. 
(b) AUTHORITY TO CONSIDER NATIONAL SECURITY 
INTEREST.—For purposes of making a determination 
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under subsection (a)(4), a court may consider the extent 
of any harm to national security. 
(c) LIMITATIONS ON CONTENT OF INFORMATION.— 
The content of any testimony or document that is com-
pelled under subsection (a) shall— 
(1) not be overbroad, unreasonable, or oppres-
sive 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. 
(d) 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. 
(e) 
EXCEPTION
RELATING
TO
CRIMINAL
OR 
TORTIOUS CONDUCT.—The provisions of this section shall 
not prohibit or otherwise limit a Federal entity in any 
matter arising under Federal law from compelling a cov-
ered person to disclose any information, record, document, 
or item obtained as the result of the eyewitness observa-
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