Sponsors (22)
The bill strengthens legal protections for civilian broadband by criminalizing tampering and allowing the FCC to adapt coverage to new technologies, but does so at the risk of broader criminal liability, regulatory uncertainty, and higher compliance costs that could fall on providers and consumers.
Internet users and network operators gain clearer criminal protection against damaging or tampering with broadband networks through an explicit statutory prohibition.
Civilian broadband infrastructure (not just military or civil-defense systems) is expressly covered, extending legal protection to utilities and local public networks.
The FCC can designate functionally equivalent services so the statute can adapt to evolving internet technologies and preserve coverage as networks change.
A broad statutory definition risks criminalizing routine or ordinary network-management actions, exposing ISPs and other providers to legal liability.
Expanding criminal coverage is likely to increase compliance and legal costs for providers, which could be passed on to consumers as higher prices.
Giving the FCC discretion to deem services 'functional equivalents' creates regulatory uncertainty for providers about what conduct is covered.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds a statutory definition of broadband and expands a federal criminal statute to cover damage or destruction of broadband services, removing a military/civil defense exception.
Introduced April 9, 2025 by Laurel Lee · Last progress April 9, 2025
Expands a federal criminal statute to cover broadband internet access services by adding a new definition of “broadband internet access service” and removing a previous exception for uses "for the military or civil defense functions of the United States." The new definition covers mass‑market wired or radio services that transmit to and from essentially all Internet endpoints (excluding dial‑up) and lets the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designate other services that are functionally equivalent. The change does not create new funding, deadlines, or administrative programs; it broadens the types of communications infrastructure and services that fall within the existing criminal prohibition on destruction or impairment of communications systems, and gives the FCC a role in identifying equivalent services for coverage under the law.