I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1685
To provide for the recognition of electronic signatures for the conduct of
interstate and foreign commerce, to restrict the transmission of certain
electronic mail advertisements, to authorize the Federal Trade Commis-
sion to prescribe rules to protect the privacy of users of commercial
Internet websites, to promote the rapid deployment of broadband Internet
services, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 5, 1999
Mr. BOUCHER (for himself and Mr. GOODLATTE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to
the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide for the recognition of electronic signatures for
the conduct of interstate and foreign commerce, to re-
strict the transmission of certain electronic mail adver-
tisements, to authorize the Federal Trade Commission
to prescribe rules to protect the privacy of users of
commercial Internet websites, to promote the rapid de-
ployment of broadband Internet services, and for other
purposes.
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 ‘‘Internet Growth and
Development Act of 1999’’.
TITLE 
I—AUTHORIZATION 
OF
ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES IN
COMMERCE
SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this title, the following definitions
shall apply:
(1) ELECTRONIC COMMERCE.—The term ‘‘elec-
tronic commerce’’ means the transaction or conduct
of any business that is in or that affects interstate
or foreign commerce and that is in whole or part
transacted or conducted by electronic means.
(2) ELECTRONIC MEANS.—The term ‘‘electronic
means’’ includes all forms of electronic communica-
tion mediated by computer, including telephonic
communications, facsimile, electronic mail, electronic
data exchanges, satellite, cable, and fiber optic com-
munications.
(3) ELECTRONIC AUTHENTICATION.—The term
‘‘electronic authentication’’ means any methodology,
technology, or technique intended to—
(A) establish the identity of the maker,
sender, or originator of a document or commu-
nication in electronic commerce; and
(B) establish the fact that the document or
communication has not been altered.
(4) ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE.—The term ‘‘elec-
tronic signature’’ means any electronic symbol or se-
ries of symbols, created, or processed by a computer,
intended by the party using it (or authorizing its
use) to have the same legal force and effect as a
manual signature.
SEC. 102. VALIDITY OF ELECTRONIC AUTHENTICATION.
(a) VALIDITY
OF ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES.—All
electronic signatures that have been authenticated through
the use of a means of electronic authentication that com-
plies with subsection (d) shall have standing equal to
paper-based, written signatures, so that—
(1) any rule of law which requires a record to
be in writing shall be deemed satisfied; and
(2) any rule of law which requires a signature
shall be deemed satisfied.
(b) VALIDITY
OF ELECTRONIC RECORDS.—Elec-
tronic records shall not be denied legal effect, validity, or
enforceability solely because such records are in electronic
form.
(c) VALIDITY OF STATE LAWS.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to preempt the law of a State that
enacts legislation governing electronic transactions that is
consistent with subsections (a) and (b).
(d) MEANS OF ELECTRONIC AUTHENTICATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this title, a
means of electronic authentication complies with the
requirements of this section if it—
(A) reliably establishes the identity of the
maker, sender, or originator of a document or
communication in electronic commerce; and
(B) reliably establishes the fact that the
document or communication has not been al-
tered.
(2) METHODS OF PROOF.—A person may dem-
onstrate compliance with the requirements of para-
graph (1) by demonstrating that a means of elec-
tronic authentication—
(A) uses an identification methodology that
is unique to the person making, sending, origi-
nating a document or communication;
(B) the identification methodology shall be
capable of verifying the identity of such person;
and
(C) the identification methodology is linked
to the data or communication transmitted in
such a manner that if such data or communica-
tion has been altered, the authentication be-
comes invalid.
TITLE II—ELECTRONIC MAIL
ADVERTISEMENTS
SEC. 201. UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MAIL ADVERTISE-
MENTS.
Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 is
amended by adding at the end the following section:
‘‘SEC. 715. UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MAIL ADVERTISE-
MENTS.
‘‘(a) COMPLIANCE
OF REGISTERED USERS WITH
PROVIDER POLICY REQUIRED.—No registered user of an
electronic mail service provider shall use or cause to be
used that electronic mail service provider’s equipment in
violation of that electronic mail service provider’s policy
prohibiting or restricting the use of its service or equip-
ment for the initiation of unsolicited electronic mail adver-
tisements.
‘‘(b) COMPLIANCE
BY SENDERS WITH PROVIDER
POLICY REQUIRED.—No person or other entity shall use
or cause to be used, by initiating an unsolicited electronic
mail advertisement, an electronic mail service provider’s
equipment in violation of that electronic mail service pro-
vider’s policy prohibiting or restricting the use of its equip-
ment to deliver unsolicited electronic mail advertisements
to its registered users.
‘‘(c) PROVIDER POLICIES NOT REQUIRED.—An elec-
tronic mail service provider shall not be required to create
a policy prohibiting or restricting the use of its equipment
for the initiation or delivery of unsolicited electronic mail
advertisements.
‘‘(d) CONTINUED PROTECTION FROM BEING TREAT-
ED AS PUBLISHER.—Nothing in this section shall be con-
strued to limit or restrict the rights of an electronic mail
service provider under section 230(c)(1) of this Act, or any
decision of an electronic mail service provider to permit
or to restrict access to or use of its system, or any exercise
of its editorial function.
‘‘(e) REMEDIES.—
‘‘(1) PRIVATE ACTIONS BY PROVIDERS.—In ad-
dition to any other remedy available under law, any
electronic mail service provider whose policy on un-
solicited electronic mail advertisements is violated as
provided in this section may bring a civil action to
recover the actual monetary loss suffered by that
provider by reason of that violation, or liquidated
damages of $50 for each electronic mail message ini-
tiated or delivered in violation of this section, up to
a maximum of $25,000 per day, whichever amount
is greater.
‘‘(2) ATTORNEY FEES.—In any action brought
pursuant to paragraph (1), the court may award
reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing party.
‘‘(3) NOTICE
OF
POLICY
REQUIRED.—In any
action brought pursuant to paragraph (1), the elec-
tronic mail service provider shall be required to es-
tablish as an element of its cause of action that
prior to the alleged violation, the defendant had ac-
tual notice of both of the following:
‘‘(A) The electronic mail service provider’s
policy on unsolicited electronic mail advertising
and
‘‘(B) The fact that the defendant’s unsolic-
ited electronic mail advertisements would use or
cause to be used the electronic mail service pro-
vider’s equipment.
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) ELECTRONIC MAIL ADVERTISEMENT.—The
term ‘electronic mail advertisement’ means any elec-
tronic mail message, the principal purpose of which
is to promote, directly or indirectly, the sale or other
commercial distribution of goods or services to the
recipient.
‘‘(2) UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MAIL ADVER-
TISEMENT.—The term ‘unsolicited electronic mail
advertisement’ means any electronic mail advertise-
ment that meets both of the following requirements:
‘‘(A) It is addressed to a recipient with
whom the initiator does not have an existing
business or personal relationship.
‘‘(B) It is not sent at the request of or
with the express consent of the recipient.
‘‘(3) ELECTRONIC MAIL SERVICE PROVIDER.—
The term ‘electronic mail service provider’ means
any person or other entity that provides registered
users the ability to send or receive electronic mail
and that is an intermediary in sending or receiving
electronic mail.
‘‘(4) INITIATION.—The term ‘initiation’ of an
unsolicited electronic mail advertisement refers to
the action by the initial sender of the electronic mail
advertisement. It does not refer to the actions of any
intervening electronic mail service provider that may
handle or retransmit the electronic message.
‘‘(5) REGISTERED USER.—The term ‘registered
user’ means any person or other entity that main-
tains an electronic mail address with an electronic
mail service provider.’’.
TITLE III—ONLINE PRIVACY
PROTECTION
SEC. 301. ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION.
(a) INFORMATION COLLECTION REGULATIONS.—Any
person operating a commercial Internet website shall
clearly and conspicuously provide notice of its collection,
use, and disclosure policies with regard to personally iden-
tifiable information, including—
(1) the personally identifiable information that
the website operator collects from individuals visiting
the website; and
(2) the uses that the website operator makes of
the personally identifiable information, including
whether the operator makes the information avail-
able to any third parties.
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—Any knowing violation of the
requirements under subsection (a) shall be treated as an
unfair or deceptive act or practice under section 5 of the
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).
TITLE IV—BROADBAND
DEPLOYMENT
SEC. 401. ACCELERATED DEPLOYMENT OF INTERNET
BACKBONE.
(a) INTERLATA INTERNET SERVICES.—Paragraph
(21) of section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
SEC. 402. ACCELERATED DEPLOYMENT OF BROADBAND
SERVICES.
Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 is fur-
ther amended by adding at the end thereof the following
new section:
‘‘SEC. 716. ACCELERATED DEPLOYMENT OF BROADBAND
SERVICES.
‘‘(a) BROADBAND SERVICES PLANS.—
‘‘(1) PLAN REQUIRED.—Within 180 days after
the effective date of this section, each local exchange
carrier shall submit to the State commission in each
State in which such carrier does business a plan to
provide broadband telecommunications service in all
local exchange areas in which such carrier has tele-
phone exchange service customers as soon as such
broadband telecommunications service is economi-
cally reasonably and technically feasible. The plan
shall include all terms and conditions, including pric-
ing, under which the services shall be provided. The
test of economic reasonability and technical feasi-
bility shall be made separately by the local exchange
carrier for each local exchange, and the plan shall be
considered certified 45 days after submission unless
the State commission rejects the plan within such 45
days. Upon rejection of a plan, successive plans shall
be submitted until approval is obtained. The plan
shall be implemented within 180 days of the certifi-
cation of the plan in each local exchange in which
the provision of the service is both economically rea-
sonable and technically feasible. Upon certification
of its plan, the carrier shall be obligated by terms
of the plan (including any modifications that it re-
quests that are thereafter certified) but shall other-
wise provide such services free of Federal and State
price, rate, rate of return, and profit regulation.
Upon a determination by the State commission that
a local exchange is served by another provider of
broadband telecommunications services, or any
broadband Internet access transport provider, or
upon a determination by such State commission that
the local exchange carrier makes broadband tele-
communications services available to 70 percent of
the access lines in an exchange, a local exchange
carrier shall no longer be obligated by the terms of
any such plan in such local exchange.
‘‘(2) STATE MODIFICATIONS PROHIBITED.—Ex-
cept upon request of the carrier, the State commis-
sion shall have no authority to modify any plan sub-
mitted pursuant to paragraph (1).
‘‘(3) NO COMMISSION AUTHORITY.—The Com-
mission shall have no authority with respect to the
terms of any plan and shall have no authority with
respect to the approval or rejection of any such plan.
‘‘(b) SUPERSESSION OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—
An incumbent local exchange carrier’s provision of
broadband local telecommunications services shall not be
subject to the requirements of sections 251(c)(3) and
251(c)(4) of the Act in any State in which that carrier
certifies to the State commission that—
‘‘(1) in central offices in which it provides local
loops that are conditioned for broadband services, it
provides such loops to other carriers at least as
quickly as it provides them for its own customers;
‘‘(2) in central offices in which it does not cur-
rently provide local loops that are conditioned for
broadband services, but in which such service is eco-
nomically reasonable and technically feasible, it will
provide such loops within 120 days of a request for
such conditioning from another carrier; and
‘‘(3) conditioned loops are provided upon such
prices and other terms and conditions as the parties
shall agree, or in any event of disagreements, as are
determined through commercial arbitration, in which
the commercial arbitrator shall establish the price
based upon the cost of the loops and the costs for
such conditioning that have been incurred by the
local exchange carrier plus a reasonable profit.’’.
TITLE V—ANTITRUST AND
CRIMINAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 501. PROHIBITION ON ANTICOMPETITIVE BEHAVIOR
BY 
INCUMBENT 
LOCAL 
EXCHANGE 
CAR-
RIERS.
In any civil action based on a claim arising under
section 1, 2, or 3 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1, 2,
3), evidence that an incumbent local exchange carrier that
has market power in the broadband service provider mar-
ket has willfully and knowingly failed to provide condi-
tioned unbundled local loops when economically reasonable
and technically feasible under section 716(a) of the Com-
munications Act of 1934, or restrains unreasonably the
ability of a carrier to compete in its provision of
broadband services over a local loop, shall be sufficient to
establish a presumption of a violation of such section 1,
2, or 3 of the Sherman Act.
SEC. 502. PROHIBITION ON ANTICOMPETITIVE CONTRACTS
BY BROADBAND ACCESS TRANSPORT PRO-
VIDERS.
In any civil action based on a claim arising under
section 1, 2, or 3 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1, 2,
3), evidence that a broadband access transport provider
that has market power in the broadband service provider
market has offered access to a service provider on terms
and conditions, other than terms justified by demonstrable
cost differentials, that are less favorable than those offered
by such operator to itself, to an affiliated service provider,
or to another service provider, or restrains unreasonably
the ability of a service provider from competing in its pro-
vision of broadband services, shall be sufficient to establish
a presumption of a violation of such section.
SEC. 503. PROHIBITION ON ANTICOMPETITIVE OR DIS-
CRIMINATORY BEHAVIOR BY BROADBAND
ACCESS TRANSPORT PROVIDERS.
It shall be unlawful for a broadband access transport
provider to engage in unfair methods of competition or
unfair or deceptive acts or practices, the purpose or effect
of which is to discriminate in favor of a service provider
that is affiliated with a broadband access transport pro-
vider or to restrain unreasonably the ability of a service
provider that is not affiliated with a broadband access
transport provider from competing in its provision of any
of the services provided by a service provider as set forth
in section 505(3).
SEC. 504. PROTECTION FROM FRAUDULENT UNSOLICITED
E-MAIL.
Section 1030 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(5)—
(A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (B); and
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (C)
the following new subparagraphs:
‘‘(D) intentionally and without authorization
initiates the transmission of a bulk unsolicited elec-
tronic mail message to a protected computer with
knowledge that such message falsifies an Internet
domain, header information, date or time stamp,
originating e-mail address or other identifier; or
‘‘(E) intentionally sells or distributes any com-
puter program that—
‘‘(i) is designed or produced primarily for
the purpose of concealing the source or routing
information of bulk unsolicited electronic mail
messages in a manner prohibited by subpara-
graph (D) of this paragraph;
‘‘(ii) has only limited commercially signifi-
cant purpose or use other than to conceal such
source or routing information; or
‘‘(iii) is marketed by the violator or an-
other person acting in concert with the violator
and with the violator’s knowledge for use in
concealing the source or routing information of
such messages;’’;
(2) in subsection (c)(2)(A)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘in the case of
an offense’’; and
(B) by inserting after ‘‘an offense punish-
able under this subparagraph;’’ the following: ‘‘;
or (ii) under subsection (a)(5)(D) or (a)(5)(E)
of this section which results in damage to a
protected computer’’;
(3) in subsection (c)(2), by adding at the end
the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(D) in the case of a violation of subsection
(a)(5)(D) or (E), actual monetary loss and statutory
damages of $15,000 per violation or an amount of
up to $10 per message per violation whichever is
greater; and’’;
(4) in subsection (e)—
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
graph (8);
(B) by striking the period at the end of
paragraph (9); and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
‘‘(10) the term ‘initiates the transmission’
means, in the case of an electronic mail message, to
originate the electronic mail message, and excludes
the actions of any interactive computer service whose
facilities or services are used by another person to
transmit, relay, or otherwise handle such message;
‘‘(11) the term ‘Internet domain’ means a spe-
cific computer system (commonly referred to as a
‘host’) or collection of computer systems attached to
or able to be referenced from the Internet which are
assigned a specific reference point on the Internet
(commonly referred to as an ‘Internet domain
name’) and registered with an organization recog-
nized by the Internet industry as a registrant of
Internet domains;
‘‘(12) the term ‘unsolicited electronic mail mes-
sage’ means any substantially identical electronic
mail message other than electronic mail initiated by
any purpose to others with whom such person has
a prior relationship, including prior business rela-
tionship, or electronic mail sent by a source to re-
cipients where such recipients, or their designees,
have at any time affirmatively requested to receive
communications from that source; and
‘‘(13) the term ‘Internet’ means all computer
and telecommunications facilities, including equip-
ment and operating software, which comprise the
interconnected network of networks that employ the
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or
any predecessor or successor protocols to such pro-
tocol, to communicate information of all kinds by
wire or radio.’’.
(5) in subsection (g), by inserting ‘‘and reason-
able attorneys’ fees and other litigation costs reason-
ably incurred in connection with civil action’’ after
‘‘injunctive relief or other equitable relief’’.
SEC. 505. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this title:
(1) BROADBAND.—The term ‘‘broadband’’ re-
fers to a transmission capability in excess of 200
kilobits per second in at least one direction.
(2) BROADBAND
ACCESS
TRANSPORT
PRO-
VIDER.—The term ‘‘broadband access transport pro-
vider’’ means one who engages in the broadband
transmission of data between a user and his service
provider’s 
point 
of 
interconnection 
with 
the
broadband access transport provider’s facilities.
Such term shall also include a service provider who
provides to itself, over facilities owned by it or under
its control, the broadband transport of services be-
tween itself and its users.
(3) SERVICE
PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘service
provider’’ means a person who provides a service
that enables users to access content, information,
electronic mail, or other services. The term may also
include access to proprietary content, information,
and other services as part of a package of services
offered to consumers.
(4) INTERNET.—The term ‘‘Internet’’ means all
computer and telecommunications facilities, includ-
ing equipment and operating software, which com-
prise the interconnected network of networks that
employ the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol, or any predecessor or successor protocols
to such protocol, to communicate information of all
kinds by wire or radio.
(5) BROADBAND
SERVICE
PROVIDER
MAR-
KET.—The term ‘‘broadband service provider mar-
ket’’ includes the provision of broadband services
over a single broadband access transport provider’s
facilities.
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