As a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and chairman of the powerful Telecommunications Subcommittee, Fred Upton has jurisdiction over newly emerging high-tech issues such as telemedicine, broadband deployment, and the wiring of America's classrooms for Internet technology. Upton sees these issues as vital to continued economic growth in America.
- Wrote the Bill to Prevent Junk Faxes
On June 16, 2004 Upton introduced a commonsense measure, H.R. 4600, to establish new opt-out safeguards to provide additional protections for fax recipients. Under the bill, senders of faxes must alert recipients - clearly and conspicuously on the first page - of their right to opt-out of future faxes and senders must abide by such requests. This is a level protection that consumers never had under FCC rules. H.R. 4600 clearly reinstates the “established business relationship” exemption to allow businesses, associations, and charities to send commercial faxes to their customers and members without first receiving written permission. Additionally, and importantly, the bill also sets out FCC reporting requirements so Congress can monitor the FCC’s enforcement activity.
- Combating Spyware
As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, Upton cosponsored the SPY Act, which works to protect individuals from unknowingly downloading spyware by requiring that consumers receive a clear and conspicuous notice prior to downloading spyware. This bill, H.R. 2929, combats spyware --the technological disease that is plaguing the information highway and threatens the efficiency of our computers and Internet services.
- Worked to Establish E-911 Legislation
Knowing that o ver half of all 911 calls made each day are from wireless phones, Fred Upton s hepherd through the House much needed legislation to improve homeland security, public safety, and citizen activated emergency response capabilities through the use of enhanced 911 (“E-911”) wireless services. The E-911 Implementation Act of 2003, H.R. 2898, will enable emergency responders to determine the precise location of callers who make 9-1-1 calls from their cell phone. This legislation would fund technological improvements to ensure that emergency responders can quickly determine the location of wireless 911 calls.
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