I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2369
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to strengthen and clarify
prohibitions on electronic eavesdropping, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 31, 1997
Mr. TAUZIN (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. GILLMOR, Ms.
ESHOO, and Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to strengthen
and clarify prohibitions on electronic eavesdropping, 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 ‘‘Wireless Privacy En-
hancement Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. COMMERCE IN ELECTRONIC EAVESDROPPING
DEVICES.
(a) 
PROHIBITION
ON
MODIFICATION.—Section
302(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
302(b)) is amended by inserting before the period at the
end thereof the following: ‘‘, or to modify any such device,
equipment, or system in any manner that causes such de-
vice, equipment, or system to fail to comply with such reg-
ulations’’.
(b) PROHIBITION ON COMMERCE IN SCANNING RE-
CEIVERS.—Section 302(d) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 302(d))
is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(d) The Commission shall prescribe regulations de-
nying equipment authorization (under part 15 of title 47,
Code of Federal Regulations, or any other part of that
title) for any scanning receiver that is capable of—
‘‘(1) receiving transmissions in the frequencies
allocated to any commercial mobile service (as de-
fined in section 332(d),
‘‘(2) readily being altered to receive trans-
missions in such frequencies,
‘‘(3) being equipped with decoders that convert
digital commercial mobile service transmissions to
analog voice audio, or
‘‘(4) being equipped with devices that otherwise
decode encrypted radio transmissions for the pur-
poses of unauthorized interception.’’.
(c) IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS.—Within 90 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Com-
munications Commission shall prescribe amendments to
its regulations for the purposes of implementing the
amendments made by this section. In prescribing such
amendments, and in response to subsequent changes in
technology or behavior, the Commission shall review and
revise its definition of the term ‘‘capable of readily being
altered’’ as necessary to prevent commerce in devices that
may be used unlawfully to intercept or divulge radio com-
munication.
SEC. 3. UNAUTHORIZED INTERCEPTION OR PUBLICATION
OF COMMUNICATIONS.
(a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 705 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 605) is amended—
(1) in the heading of such section, by inserting
‘‘INTERCEPTION OR’’ after ‘‘UNAUTHORIZED’’;
(2) in the second sentence of subsection (a), by
striking ‘‘and divulge’’ and inserting ‘‘or divulge’’;
(3) in subsection (e)(1)—
(A) by striking ‘‘fined not more than
$2,000 or’’; and
(B) by inserting ‘‘or fined under title 18,
United States Code,’’ after ‘‘6 months,’’; and
(4) in subsection (e)(3), by striking ‘‘any viola-
tion’’ and inserting ‘‘any receipt, interception, divul-
gence, publication, or utilization of any communica-
tion in violation’’; and
(5) in subsection (e)(4), by striking ‘‘any other
activity prohibited by subsection (a)’’ and inserting
‘‘any receipt, interception, divulgence, publication, or
utilization of any communication in violation of sub-
section (a)’’.
(b) RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENFORCEMENT.—Notwith-
standing any other investigative or enforcement activities
of any other Federal agency, the Federal Communications
Commission shall investigate alleged violations of section
705 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 605)
and may proceed to initiate action under section 503 of
such Act (47 U.S.C. 503) to impose forfeiture penalties
with respect to such violation upon conclusion of the Com-
mission’s investigation.
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