Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2019 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2019
55 To require covered entities to issue a short-form terms of service summary
66 statement, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 MARCH10, 2025
99 Mrs. T
1010 RAHANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
1111 Committee on Energy and Commerce
1212 A BILL
1313 To require covered entities to issue a short-form terms of
1414 service summary statement, and for other purposes.
1515 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1616 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1717 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
1818 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Terms-of-service La-4
1919 beling, Design, and Readability Act’’ or the ‘‘TLDR Act’’. 5
2020 SEC. 2. STANDARD TERMS OF SERVICE SUMMARY STATE-6
2121 MENT. 7
2222 (a) D
2323 EADLINE FORTERMS OFSERVICESUMMARY 8
2424 S
2525 TATEMENT.—Not later than 360 days after the date of 9
2626 the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall issue a 10
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3030 rule in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United 1
3131 States Code, with regard to a covered entity that publishes 2
3232 or has published a terms of service— 3
3333 (1) that requires the covered entity to include 4
3434 a truthful and non-misleading short-form terms of 5
3535 service summary statement on the website of the en-6
3636 tity; 7
3737 (2) that requires the covered entity to include 8
3838 a truthful and non-misleading graphic data flow dia-9
3939 gram on the website of the entity; and 10
4040 (3) that requires the covered entity to display 11
4141 the full terms of service of the entity in an inter-12
4242 active data format. 13
4343 (b) N
4444 ONEWCONTRACTUALOBLIGATION.—The re-14
4545 quirement to include a summary statement described in 15
4646 subsection (a)(1) does not create any new contractual obli-16
4747 gation. 17
4848 (c) R
4949 EQUIREMENTS FOR SHORT-FORMTERMS OF 18
5050 S
5151 ERVICESUMMARYSTATEMENT.— 19
5252 (1) I
5353 N GENERAL.—The short-form terms of 20
5454 service summary statement described in subsection 21
5555 (a)(1)— 22
5656 (A) shall be accessible to individuals with 23
5757 low levels of literacy and individuals with dis-24
5858 abilities, be machine readable, and include ta-25
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6161 •HR 2019 IH
6262 bles, graphic icons, hyperlinks, or other means 1
6363 as the Commission may require; and 2
6464 (B) may be presented differently depend-3
6565 ing on the interface or type of device on which 4
6666 the statement is being accessed by the user. 5
6767 (2) L
6868 OCATION OF SUMMARY STATEMENT AND 6
6969 GRAPHIC DATA FLOW DIAGRAM .—The summary 7
7070 statement described in subsection (a)(1) shall be 8
7171 placed at the top of the permanent terms of service 9
7272 page of the covered entity, and the graphic data flow 10
7373 diagram described in subsection (a)(2) shall be lo-11
7474 cated immediately below such summary statement. 12
7575 (3) C
7676 ONTENTS OF SUMMARY STATEMENT .—The 13
7777 summary statement described in subsection (a)(1) 14
7878 shall include the following: 15
7979 (A) The categories of sensitive information 16
8080 that the covered entity processes. 17
8181 (B) The sensitive information that is re-18
8282 quired for the basic functioning of the service 19
8383 and what sensitive information is needed for ad-20
8484 ditional features and future feature develop-21
8585 ment. 22
8686 (C) A summary of the legal liabilities of a 23
8787 user and any rights transferred from the user 24
8888 to the covered entity, such as mandatory arbi-25
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9191 •HR 2019 IH
9292 tration, class action waiver, any licensing or 1
9393 sale by the covered entity of the content of the 2
9494 user, and any waiver of moral rights. 3
9595 (D) Historical versions of the terms of 4
9696 service and change logs. 5
9797 (E) If the covered entity provides user de-6
9898 letion services, directions for how the user can 7
9999 delete sensitive information or discontinue the 8
100100 use of sensitive information. 9
101101 (F) A list of data breaches from the pre-10
102102 vious 3 years reported to consumers under ex-11
103103 isting Federal and State laws. 12
104104 (G) The effort required by a user to read 13
105105 the entire terms of service text, such as through 14
106106 the total word count and approximate time to 15
107107 read the statement. 16
108108 (H) Any other information the Commission 17
109109 determines to be necessary if that information 18
110110 is included in the terms of service by the cov-19
111111 ered entity. 20
112112 (4) A
113113 DDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED BY 21
114114 THE COMMISSION.—In the rule issued under sub-22
115115 section (a), the Commission shall include a list of 23
116116 other information the Commission determines to be 24
117117 necessary under paragraph (3)(H). 25
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121121 (d) GUIDANCE ON GRAPHICDATAFLOWDIA-1
122122 GRAMS.—Not later than 360 days after the date of the 2
123123 enactment of this Act, the Commission shall publish guide-3
124124 lines on how a covered entity can graphically display how 4
125125 the sensitive information of a user is shared with a sub-5
126126 sidiary or corporate affiliate of such entity and how such 6
127127 sensitive information is shared with third parties. 7
128128 (e) I
129129 NTERACTIVEDATAFORMATTERMS OFSERV-8
130130 ICE.—Not later than 360 days after the date of the enact-9
131131 ment of this Act, the Commission shall issue a rule in ac-10
132132 cordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code, 11
133133 that requires a covered entity to tag portions of the terms 12
134134 of services of the entity according to an interactive data 13
135135 format. 14
136136 (f) E
137137 NFORCEMENT.— 15
138138 (1) E
139139 NFORCEMENT BY THE COMMISSION .— 16
140140 (A) U
141141 NFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC -17
142142 TICES.—A violation of this Act or a regulation 18
143143 promulgated under this Act shall be treated as 19
144144 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or de-20
145145 ceptive act or practice under section 21
146146 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission 22
147147 Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 23
148148 (B) P
149149 OWERS OF THE COMMISSION .— 24
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152152 •HR 2019 IH
153153 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission 1
154154 shall enforce this section and the regula-2
155155 tions promulgated under this section in the 3
156156 same manner, by the same means, and 4
157157 with the same jurisdiction, powers, and du-5
158158 ties as though all applicable terms and pro-6
159159 visions of the Federal Trade Commission 7
160160 Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor-8
161161 porated into and made a part of this sec-9
162162 tion. 10
163163 (ii) P
164164 RIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES .— 11
165165 Any person who violates this section or a 12
166166 regulation promulgated under this section 13
167167 shall be subject to the penalties and enti-14
168168 tled to the privileges and immunities pro-15
169169 vided in the Federal Trade Commission 16
170170 Act. 17
171171 (iii) A
172172 UTHORITY PERSEVERED .— 18
173173 Nothing in this section shall be construed 19
174174 to limit the authority of the Commission 20
175175 under any other provision of law. 21
176176 (2) E
177177 NFORCEMENT BY STATES .— 22
178178 (A) I
179179 N GENERAL.—In any case in which 23
180180 the attorney general of a State has reason to 24
181181 believe that an interest of at least 1,000 resi-25
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184184 •HR 2019 IH
185185 dents of that State has been or is threatened or 1
186186 adversely affected by the engagement of any 2
187187 person in a practice that violates this section or 3
188188 a regulation promulgated under this section, the 4
189189 attorney general of the State, as parens patriae, 5
190190 may bring a civil action on behalf of the resi-6
191191 dents of the State in a district court of the 7
192192 United States of appropriate jurisdiction— 8
193193 (i) to enjoin that practice; 9
194194 (ii) to enforce compliance with this 10
195195 section; 11
196196 (iii) to obtain damages, restitution, or 12
197197 other compensation on behalf of such resi-13
198198 dents; and 14
199199 (iv) to obtain such other relief as the 15
200200 court may consider to be appropriate. 16
201201 (B) R
202202 IGHTS OF THE COMMISSION .— 17
203203 (i) N
204204 OTICE TO THE COMMISSION .— 18
205205 (I) I
206206 N GENERAL.—Except as pro-19
207207 vided in subclause (III), the attorney 20
208208 general of a State shall notify the 21
209209 Commission in writing that the attor-22
210210 ney general intends to bring a civil ac-23
211211 tion under subparagraph (A) before 24
212212 initiating the civil action. 25
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216216 (II) CONTENTS.—The notifica-1
217217 tion required by subclause (I) with re-2
218218 spect to a civil action shall include a 3
219219 copy of the complaint to be filed to 4
220220 initiate the civil action. 5
221221 (III) E
222222 XEMPTION.—If it is not 6
223223 feasible for the attorney general of a 7
224224 State to provide the notification re-8
225225 quired by subclause (I) before initi-9
226226 ating a civil action under subpara-10
227227 graph (A), the attorney general shall 11
228228 notify the Commission immediately 12
229229 upon instituting the civil action. 13
230230 (ii) I
231231 NTERVENTION BY THE COMMIS -14
232232 SION.—The Commission may— 15
233233 (I) intervene in any civil action 16
234234 brought by the attorney general of a 17
235235 State under subparagraph (A); and 18
236236 (II) upon intervening— 19
237237 (aa) be heard on all matters 20
238238 arising in the civil action; and 21
239239 (bb) file petitions for appeal. 22
240240 (C) C
241241 ONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 23
242242 paragraph may be construed to prevent an at-24
243243 torney general of a State from exercising the 25
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247247 powers conferred on the attorney general by the 1
248248 laws of that State to— 2
249249 (i) conduct investigations; 3
250250 (ii) administer oaths or affirmations; 4
251251 or 5
252252 (iii) compel the attendance of wit-6
253253 nesses or the production of documentary 7
254254 and other evidence. 8
255255 (D) A
256256 CTIONS BY THE COMMISSION .—In 9
257257 any case in which an action is instituted by or 10
258258 on behalf of the Commission for a violation of 11
259259 this section or a regulation promulgated under 12
260260 this section, a State may not, during the pend-13
261261 ency of that action, institute a separate action 14
262262 under subparagraph (A) against any defendant 15
263263 named in the complaint in the action instituted 16
264264 by or on behalf of the Commission for that vio-17
265265 lation. 18
266266 (E) V
267267 ENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.— 19
268268 (i) V
269269 ENUE.—Any action brought 20
270270 under subparagraph (A) may be brought 21
271271 in— 22
272272 (I) the district court of the 23
273273 United States that meets applicable 24
274274 requirements relating to venue under 25
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278278 section 1391 of title 28, United States 1
279279 Code; or 2
280280 (II) another court of competent 3
281281 jurisdiction. 4
282282 (ii) S
283283 ERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an ac-5
284284 tion brought under paragraph (1), process 6
285285 may be served in any district in which the 7
286286 defendant— 8
287287 (I) is an inhabitant; or 9
288288 (II) may be found. 10
289289 (g) D
290290 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
291291 (1) C
292292 OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 12
293293 means the Federal Trade Commission. 13
294294 (2) C
295295 OVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-14
296296 tity’’— 15
297297 (A) means any person that operates a 16
298298 website located on the internet or an online 17
299299 service that is operated for commercial pur-18
300300 poses; and 19
301301 (B) does not include a small business con-20
302302 cern (as defined in section 3 of the Small Busi-21
303303 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632)). 22
304304 (3) D
305305 ISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 23
306306 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Ameri-24
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310310 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 1
311311 12102). 2
312312 (4) I
313313 NTERACTIVE DATA FORMAT .—The term 3
314314 ‘‘interactive data format’’ means an electronic data 4
315315 format in which pieces of information are identified 5
316316 using an interactive data standard, such as eXten-6
317317 sible Markup Language (commonly known as 7
318318 ‘‘XML’’), that is a standardized list of electronic 8
319319 tags that mark the information described in sub-9
320320 section (c)(3) within the terms of service of a cov-10
321321 ered entity. 11
322322 (5) M
323323 ORAL RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘moral rights’’ 12
324324 means the rights conferred by section 106A(a) of 13
325325 title 17, United States Code. 14
326326 (6) P
327327 ROCESS.—The term ‘‘process’’ means any 15
328328 operation or set of operations performed on sensitive 16
329329 information, including collection, analysis, organiza-17
330330 tion, structuring, retaining, using, or otherwise han-18
331331 dling sensitive information. 19
332332 (7) S
333333 ENSITIVE INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘sen-20
334334 sitive information’’ means any of the following: 21
335335 (A) Health information. 22
336336 (B) Biometric information. 23
337337 (C) Precise geolocation information. 24
338338 (D) Social security number. 25
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342342 (E) Information concerning the race, color, 1
343343 religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability 2
344344 of an individual. 3
345345 (F) The content and parties to a commu-4
346346 nication. 5
347347 (G) Audio and video recordings captured 6
348348 through a consumer device. 7
349349 (H) Financial information, including a 8
350350 bank account number, credit card number, 9
351351 debit card number, or insurance policy number. 10
352352 (I) Online browsing history, which means 11
353353 information revealing online activities over time 12
354354 or across websites or online services not owned 13
355355 or operated by the covered entity. 14
356356 (8) S
357357 TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 15
358358 the several States, the District of Columbia, each 16
359359 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 17
360360 States, and each Federally recognized Indian Tribe. 18
361361 (9) T
362362 HIRD PARTY.—The term ‘‘third party’’ 19
363363 means, with respect to a covered entity, a person— 20
364364 (A) to which the covered entity disclosed 21
365365 sensitive information; and 22
366366 (B) that is not— 23
367367 (i) the covered entity; 24
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371371 (ii) a subsidiary or corporate affiliate 1
372372 of the covered entity; or 2
373373 (iii) a service provider of the covered 3
374374 entity. 4
375375 Æ
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