AMENDMENT TO H.R.



OFFERED BY MR. MARKEY OF MASSACHUSETTS,
MR. BOUCHER OF VIRGINIA, MS. ESHOO OF
CALIFORNIA, AND MR. INSLEE OF WASHINGTON

Network neutrality

Strike section 715 of the Communications Act of
1934, as added by section 201 of the bill, and insert the
following:
‘‘SEC. 715. NETWORK NEUTRALITY. 1
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each broadband network pro- 2
vider has the duty— 3
‘‘(1) not to block, impair, degrade, discriminate 4
against, or interfere with the ability of any person 5
to use a broadband connection to access, use, send, 6
receive, or offer lawful content, applications, or serv- 7
ices over the Internet; 8
‘‘(2) to operate its broadband network in a non- 9
discriminatory manner so that any person can offer 10
or provide content, applications, and services 11
through, or over, such broadband network with 12
equivalent or better capability than the provider ex- 13
tends to itself or affiliated parties, and without the
imposition of a charge for such nondiscriminatory 1
network operation; 2
‘‘(3) if the provider chooses to prioritize data of 3
a particular type, to prioritize all data of that type 4
and without charge for such prioritization; 5
‘‘(4) to enable a user to attach and use any de- 6
vice to the operator’s network that does not phys- 7
ically damage, make unauthorized use of, or materi- 8
ally degrade other users’ utilization of, the network; 9
and 10
‘‘(5) to clearly and conspicuously disclose to 11
users, in plain language, accurate information about 12
the speed, nature, and limitations of their broadband 13
connection. 14
‘‘(b) PRESERVED RIGHTS AND EXCEPTIONS.—Noth- 15
ing in this section shall prevent a broadband network pro- 16
vider from taking reasonable and nondiscriminatory meas- 17
ures to— 18
‘‘(1) manage the functioning of its network to 19
protect the security of such network and broadband 20
network services, provided that such management 21
does not depend upon the affiliation with the 22
broadband network provider of the content, applica- 23
tions, or services on the network;
‘‘(2) offer varied service plans to users at de- 1
fined levels of bandwidth and different prices; 2
‘‘(3) offer consumer protection services (includ- 3
ing services for the prevention of unsolicited com- 4
mercial electronic messages, parental controls, or 5
other similar capabilities), or offer cable service, so 6
long as a user may refuse or disable such services; 7
‘‘(4) give priority to emergency communica- 8
tions; or 9
‘‘(5) prevent any violation of Federal or State 10
law, or comply with any court-ordered law enforce- 11
ment directive. 12
‘‘(c) EXPEDITED COMPLAINT PROCESS.—Within 180 13
days after the date of enactment of this section, the Com- 14
mission shall prescribe regulations providing for the expe- 15
dited review of any complaints alleging a violation of this 16
section. Such regulations shall include a requirement that 17
the Commission issue a final order regarding any request 18
for a ruling contained in a complaint not later than 30 19
days after the date of submission of such complaint. 20
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 21
‘‘(1) BROADBAND NETWORK PROVIDER.—The 22
term ‘broadband network provider’ means a person 23
or entity that owns, controls, operates, or resells and 24
controls any facility used to provide broadband net-
work service to the public, by whatever technology 1
and whether provided for a fee, in exchange for an 2
explicit benefit, or for free. 3
‘‘(2) BROADBAND NETWORK SERVICE.—The 4
term ‘broadband network service’ means a two-way 5
transmission service that connects to the Internet 6
and transmits information at an average rate of at 7
least 200 kilobits per second in at least one direc- 8
tion. 9
‘‘(3) USER.—The term ‘user’ means any person 10
who takes and uses broadband network service, 11
whether provided for a fee, in exchange for an ex- 12
plicit benefit, or for free.’’. 13