Title: A bill to establish privacy protections for customers of broadband Internet access service and other telecommunications services.
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
This bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to promulgate customer privacy regulations that require telecommunications services, broadband Internet access services, and interconnected VoIP services to:
The FCC must also implement strong protection for de-identified customary proprietary information to prevent re-identifying such information.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 878 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 878

 To establish privacy protections for customers of broadband Internet 
         access service and other telecommunications services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                April 6 (legislative day, April 4), 2017

 Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Warren, Mr. Sanders, Mr. 
   Merkley, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Udall, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Van 
Hollen, and Mr. Franken) introduced the following bill; which was read 
     twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish privacy protections for customers of broadband Internet 
         access service and other telecommunications services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMERS OF BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE 
              AND OTHER TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 222) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following:
    ``(h) Privacy of Customers of Broadband Internet Access Service and 
Other Telecommunications Services.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                    ``(A) the term `broadband Internet access service' 
                has the meaning given the term in section 8.2 of title 
                47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 
                regulation;
                    ``(B) the term `customer' means--
                            ``(i) a current or former subscriber to a 
                        telecommunications service; or
                            ``(ii) an applicant for a 
                        telecommunications service;
                    ``(C) the term `customer proprietary information' 
                means, with respect to information or content that a 
                telecommunications carrier acquires in connection with 
                its provision of telecommunications service--
                            ``(i) individually identifiable customer 
                        proprietary network information;
                            ``(ii) personally identifiable information; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) content of communications;
                    ``(D) the term `opt-in approval' means a method for 
                a telecommunications carrier to obtain customer consent 
                to use, disclose, or permit access to the customer's 
                customer proprietary information that requires that the 
                telecommunications carrier obtain from the customer 
                affirmative, express consent allowing the requested 
                usage, disclosure, or access to the customer 
                proprietary information after the customer is provided 
                appropriate notification of the carrier's request;
                    ``(E) the term `sensitive customer proprietary 
                information' includes--
                            ``(i) financial information;
                            ``(ii) health information;
                            ``(iii) information pertaining to children;
                            ``(iv) Social Security numbers;
                            ``(v) precise geolocation information;
                            ``(vi) content of communications;
                            ``(vii) call detail information;
                            ``(viii) web browsing history, application 
                        usage history, and the functional equivalents 
                        of either; and
                            ``(ix) any other customary proprietary 
                        information that the Commission determines to 
                        be sensitive; and
                    ``(F) the term `telecommunications service' 
                includes broadband Internet access service and 
                interconnected VoIP service.
            ``(2) Regulations.--In carrying out this section, the 
        Commission shall promulgate regulations to protect the privacy 
        of customers of telecommunications service.
            ``(3) Contents.--In promulgating regulations under 
        paragraph (2), the Commission shall--
                    ``(A) require a telecommunications carrier to 
                notify a customer about the collection, use, and 
                sharing of his or her customer proprietary information, 
                including by--
                            ``(i) notifying the customer about the 
                        types of customer proprietary information the 
                        carrier collects;
                            ``(ii) specifying how and for what purposes 
                        the carrier uses and shares customer 
                        proprietary information; and
                            ``(iii) identifying the types of entities 
                        with which the carrier shares customer 
                        proprietary information;
                    ``(B) require a telecommunications carrier to--
                            ``(i) provide the notification under 
                        subparagraph (A) to a customer at the point of 
                        sale, before the purchase of service; and
                            ``(ii) update a customer when the carrier 
                        makes a material change to a privacy policy, 
                        including any of the policies described in 
                        subparagraph (A);
                    ``(C) require a telecommunications carrier to 
                obtain opt-in approval from a customer to use and share 
                his or her sensitive customer proprietary information;
                    ``(D) implement strong protection for de-identified 
                customary proprietary information, to prevent re-
                identifying such information;
                    ``(E) prohibit a telecommunications carrier from 
                refusing to serve a customer who doesn't consent to the 
                use and sharing of his or her customer proprietary 
                information for commercial purposes (commonly known as 
                `take-it-or-leave-it offers'); and
                    ``(F) require a telecommunications carrier to--
                            ``(i) develop reasonable data security 
                        practices; and
                            ``(ii) notify customers if a breach of 
                        security has occurred.''.
    (b) Deadline.--The Federal Communications Commission--
            (1) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
        this Act, shall promulgate regulations under section 222(h)(2) 
        of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(h)(2)), as 
        added by subsection (a); and
            (2) shall ensure that the regulations promulgated under 
        paragraph (1) take effect not later than 180 days after the 
        date of promulgation.
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