E-Mail User Protection Act of 1998

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``E-Mail User Protection Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Internet has become a critical mode of global 
        communication and now presents unprecedented opportunities for 
        the development and growth of global commerce and an integrated 
        worldwide economy.
            (2) The receipt of unsolicited commercial e-mail may result 
        in undue monetary costs to recipients who cannot refuse to 
        accept such mail and who incur costs for the storage of such 
        mail, or for the time spent accessing, reviewing, and 
        discarding such mail, or for both.
            (3) An increasing number of senders of unsolicited 
        commercial e-mail purposefully disguise the source of such mail 
        so as to prevent recipients from responding to such mail 
        quickly and easily.
            (4) Because recipients of unsolicited commercial e-mail 
        that does not provide a return address are unable to avoid the 
        receipt of such mail through reasonable means, such mail may 
        threaten the privacy of recipients.
            (5) By providing remedies similar to those provided with 
        respect to unsolicited facsimile transmissions and automated 
        dialing equipment in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 
        1991, the Congress can provide privacy protections without 
        infringing important Constitutional rights or imperiling the 
        commercial development of the Internet.

SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL.

    Part 1 of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 is amended by 
inserting after section 230 (47 U.S.C. 230) the following new section:

``SEC. 231. RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL.

    ``(a) Violations Directed at Interactive Computer Services.--
            ``(1) For purposes of this subsection, a violation is 
        defined as each initiation of a transmission without regard to 
        the number of electronic mail addresses to which the 
        transmission is sent.
            ``(2) It shall be a violation of this Act, punishable under 
        subsection (c)(1), for any person--
                    ``(A) to intentionally initiate the transmission of 
                an unsolicited commercial e-mail message from an 
                unregistered or fictitious Internet domain, or an 
                unregistered or fictitious electronic mail address, for 
                the purpose of--
                            ``(i) preventing replies to such message 
                        through the use of standard reply mechanisms in 
                        the recipient's electronic mail system, or
                            ``(ii) preventing receipt of standard 
                        notices of non-delivery;
                    ``(B) to intentionally use or distribute a computer 
                program or other technical mechanism or procedure 
                intending to disguise the source of unsolicited 
                commercial e-mail messages or to disable or circumvent 
                a mail filtering tool;
                    ``(C) to intentionally distribute, through computer 
                software or in any other manner, a collection or list 
                of electronic mail addresses knowing that the 
                collection or list contains addresses of persons who 
have previously requested removal from the list;
                    ``(D) to intentionally register, create, or cause 
                to be created an Internet domain under false pretenses 
                or to apply for, register, or otherwise obtain the use 
                of an Internet electronic mail account for the sole or 
                primary purpose of disguising the source of unsolicited 
                electronic mail messages;
                    ``(E) to direct an unsolicited commercial e-mail 
                message through the server of an interactive computer 
                service provider to one or more subscribers of the 
                interactive computer service, knowing or having reason 
                to know that such action is in contravention of the 
                rules of the interactive computer service with respect 
                to unsolicited commercial e-mail messages;
                    ``(F) knowing or having reason to know that such 
                action is in contravention of the rules of an 
                interactive computer service, to access the server of 
                such interactive computer service and to use a computer 
                program to collect electronic mail addresses of 
                subscribers of the interactive computer service for the 
                purpose of sending such subscribers unsolicited 
                commercial e-mail or selling or distributing the list 
                thereby collected or obtained.
    ``(b) Violations Directed at Individuals.--
            ``(1) For purposes of this subsection, a violation is 
        defined as each electronic mail address which receives a 
        transmission.
            ``(2) It shall be a violation of this Act, punishable under 
        subsection (c)(2), for any person--
                    ``(A) to fail to comply with the request of the 
                recipient of an electronic mail message, made to the 
                sender or mailing list manager, as appropriate, to 
                cease sending electronic messages to the recipient in 
                the future; or
                    ``(B) to initiate the transmission of an 
                unsolicited commercial e-mail message to a recipient 
                despite having been given prior notice (either directly 
                or through a standard method developed, adopted, or 
                modified by an Internet standard setting organization, 
                such as the Internet Engineering Task Force, to better 
                facilitate pre-emptive consumer control over 
                unsolicited, commercial e-mail) that the recipient does 
                not wish to receive such messages.
    ``(c) Liability for Violations.--Any person or entity who violates 
any provision of subsection (a) or (b) shall be liable to any injured 
party for such relief as is set out below.
            ``(1) Relief for interactive computer services.--In an 
        action under this section for violation of subsection (a), 
        relief may include--
                    ``(A) such preliminary and other equitable or 
                declaratory relief as may be appropriate;
                    ``(B) for actual monetary loss from a violation, 
                statutory damages of not more than $10,000 for each 
                violation, and, if the court finds that the defendant's 
                actions were particularly egregious, willful, or 
                knowing, the court may, in its discretion, increase the 
                amount of an award to an amount equal to not more than 
10 times the amount available hereunder, and
                    ``(C) reasonable attorneys' fees and other 
                litigation costs reasonably incurred.
            ``(2) Relief for individuals.--
                    ``(A) In an action under this section for violation 
                of subsection (b), relief shall be sought in an action 
                brought by the attorney general of one or more states.
                    ``(B) Whenever the attorney general of a State, or 
                an official or agency designated by a State, has reason 
                to believe that any person has engaged or is engaging 
                in a pattern or practice of transmitting unsolicited 
                commercial e-mail to residents of that State in 
                violation of this section or the regulations prescribed 
                under this section, the State may bring a civil action 
                on behalf of its residents for such relief as may be 
                appropriate.
                    ``(C) In an action under this subsection, 
                appropriate relief includes--
                            ``(i) an injunction or such preliminary and 
                        other equitable or declaratory relief as may be 
                        appropriate;
                            ``(ii) an action to recover statutory $500 
                        in damages for each violation; or
                            ``(iii) both such actions.
                    ``(D) If the court finds the defendant's actions 
                were particularly egregious, willful, or knowing, the 
                court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of 
                the award to an amount equal to not more than ten times 
                the amount available in (C).
                    ``(E) reasonable attorneys' fees and other 
                litigation costs reasonably occurred.
    ``(d) State Law.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent 
any State from enforcing any State law that is consistent with this 
Act. No cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed 
under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this Act.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this Act:
            ``(1) Electronic mail address.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `electronic mail 
                address' means a destination (commonly expressed as a 
                string of characters) to which electronic mail can be 
                sent or delivered.
                    ``(B) Inclusion.--In the case of the Internet, the 
                term `electronic mail address' may include an 
                electronic mail address consisting of a user name of 
                mailbox (commonly referred to as the `local part') and 
                a reference to an Internet domain (commonly referred to 
                as the `domain part').
            ``(2) Initiates the transmission.--The term `initiates the 
        transmission', in the case of an electronic mail message, 
        refers to the action of the original sender of the message and 
        not to any intervening computer service that may handle or 
        retransmit the message, unless the intervening computer service 
        retransmits the message with an intent to engage in activities 
        prohibited by this Act.
            ``(3) Interactive computer service.--The term `interactive 
        computer service' has the meaning given that term in section 
        230(c)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
        230(e)(2)).
            ``(4) Internet.--The term `Internet' has the meaning given 
        that term in section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Act of 
        1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)(1)).
            ``(5) Internet domain.--The term `Internet domain' refers 
        to a specific computer system (commonly referred to as a 
        `host') or collection of computer systems attached to or able 
        to be referenced from the Internet which are assigned a 
        specific reference point on the Internet (commonly referred to 
        as the `Internet domain name') and registered with an 
        organization recognized by the computer industry as a 
        registrant of Internet domains.
            ``(6) Mailing list.--The term `mailing list' refers to a 
        computer program that provides electronic mailing list 
        management functions, including functions that allow 
        individuals to subscribe and unsubscribe to and from electronic 
        mailing lists.
            ``(7) Mail filtering tool.--The term `mail filtering tool' 
        means any computer program, procedure, or mechanism used by an 
        individual recipient or interactive computer service to block, 
        return, reroute, or otherwise screen or sort incoming 
        electronic mail messages.
            ``(8) Servers.--The term `server' refers to any computer or 
        program that provides support or services of any kind, 
        including electronic mailboxes, to other computers.
            ``(9) Unsolicited commercial e-mail message.--The term 
        `unsolicited commercial e-mail message' means any electronic 
        mail other than--
                    ``(A) electronic mail sent by persons to recipients 
                with whom they have a direct or indirect relationship, 
                including a prior business relationship; or
                    ``(B) mail sent by a source to a recipient where 
                such recipient, or someone authorized by him, has at 
                any time affirmatively requested communications from 
                that source.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The provisions of this Act shall take effect 45 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act.

Summary: E-Mail User Protection Act of 1998 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit any person from: (1) intentionally soliciting the transmission of unsolicited commercial e-mail from an unregistered or fictitious Internet domain or e-mail address in order to prevent reply through standard reply mechanisms. (2) intentionally using or distributing a computer program or other mechanism or procedure to disguise the source of unsolicited commercial e-mail. (3) intentionally distributing a collection or list of e-mail addresses knowing that persons on such list have previously requested removal from the list. (4) intentionally registering or creating an Internet e-mail account for the sole or primary purpose of disguising the source of unsolicited e-mail messages. (5) directing an unsolicited commercial e-mail message to subscribers of an interactive computer service (service), knowing such to be in contravention to the rules of such service with respect to unsolicited commercial e-mail messages. Or (6) accessing the server of a service and using a computer program to collect e-mail addresses of service subscribers in order to send such subscribers unsolicited commercial e-mail or to sell or distribute a list of such subscribers. Considers each transmission received by an individual to be a separate violation for purposes of this Act. Provides appropriate relief for both individuals and service providers. Authorizes a State, through its Attorney General, to bring an action on behalf of its residents for appropriate relief.