I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1004

To protect the public from the misuse of the telecommunications network

and telecommunications devices and facilities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 21, 1995

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce and, in addition, to the Committee

on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To protect the public from the misuse of the telecommunications network and telecommunications devices and facilities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Communications De5 cency Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. OBSCENE OR HARASSING USE OF TELECOMMUNI2 CATIONS FACILITIES UNDER THE COMMU3 NICATIONS ACT OF 1934.

4 (a) OFFENSES.—Section 223 of the Communications

5 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223) is amended—

6 (1) in subsection (a)(1)—

7 (A) by striking out ‘‘telephone’’ in the

8 matter above subparagraph (A) and inserting

9 ‘‘telecommunications device’’;

10 (B) by striking out ‘‘makes any comment,

11 request, suggestion, or proposal’’ in subpara12 graph (A) and inserting ‘‘makes, transmits, or

13 otherwise makes available any comment, re14 quest, suggestion, proposal, image, or other

15 communication’’;

16 (C) by striking out subparagraph (B) and

17 inserting the following:

18 ‘‘(B) makes a telephone call or utilizes a

19 telecommunications device, whether or not con20 versation or communications ensues, without

21 disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy,

22 abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the

23 called number or who receives the communica24 tion;’’ and

25 (D) by striking out subparagraph (D) and

26 inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘(D) makes repeated telephone calls or re2 peatedly initiates communication with a tele3 communications device, during which conversa4 tion or communication ensues, solely to harass

5 any person at the called number or who receives

6 the communication; or’’;

7 (2) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘telephone

8 facility’’ and inserting ‘‘telecommunications facility’’;

9 (3) in subsection (b)(1)—

10 (A) in subparagraph (A)—

11 (i) by striking ‘‘telephone’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘telecommunications device’’; and

13 (ii) inserting ‘‘or initiated the commu14 nication’’ and ‘‘placed the call’’, and

15 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘tele16 phone facility’’ and inserting ‘‘telecommuni17 cations facility’’; and

18 (4) in subsection (b)(2)—

19 (A) in subparagraph (A)—

20 (i) by striking ‘‘by means of tele21 phone, makes’’ and inserting ‘‘by means of

22 telephone or telecommunications device,

23 makes, knowingly transmits, or knowingly

24 makes available’’; and
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1 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or initiated the com2 munication’’ after ‘‘placed the call’’; and

3 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘tele4 phone facility’’ and inserting in lieu thereof

5 ‘‘telecommunications facility’’.

6 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 223 of such Act (47 U.S.C.

7 223) is amended—

8 (1) by striking out ‘‘$50,000’’ each place it ap9 pears and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’; and

10 (2) by striking ‘‘six months’’ each place it ap11 pears and inserting ‘‘2 years’’.

12 (c) PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF ACCESS.—Sub13 section (c)(1) of such section (47 U.S.C. 223(c)) is amend14 ed by striking ‘‘telephone’’ and inserting ‘‘telecommuni15 cations device.’’

16 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The section head17 ing for such section is amended to read as follows: ‘‘OB18 SCENE OR HARASSING UTILIZATION OF TELE19 COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES AND FACILITIES IN THE

20 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA OR IN INTERSTATE OR

21 FOREIGN COMMUNICATIONS’’.

22 SEC. 3. OBSCENE PROGRAMMING ON CABLE TELEVISION.

23 Section 639 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

24 U.S.C. 559) is amended by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and insert25 ing ‘‘$100,000’’.
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1 SEC. 4. BROADCASTING OBSCENE LANGUAGE ON RADIO.

2 Section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is

3 amended by striking out ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting

4 ‘‘$100,000’’.

5 SEC. 5. INTERCEPTION AND DISCLOSURE OF ELECTRONIC

6 COMMUNICATIONS.

7 Section 2511 of title 18, United States Code, is

8 amended—

9 (1) in paragraph (1)—

10 (A) by striking ‘‘wire, oral, or electronic

11 communication’’ each place it appears and in12 serting ‘‘wire, oral, electronic, or digital commu13 nication’’, and

14 (B) in the matter designated as ‘‘(b)’’, by

15 striking ‘‘oral communication’’ in the matter

16 above clause (i) and inserting ‘‘communica17 tion’’; and

18 (2) in paragraph (2)(a), by striking ‘‘wire or

19 electronic communication service’’ each place it ap20 pears (other than in the second sentence) and insert21 ing ‘‘wire, electronic, or digital communication serv22 ice’’.

23 SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL PROHIBITION ON BILLING FOR TOLL24 FREE TELEPHONE CALLS.

25 Section 228(c)(6) of the Communications Act of 1934

26 (47 U.S.C. 228(c)(6)) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

2 (C);

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub4 paragraph (D) and inserting a semicolon and ‘‘or’’;

5 and

6 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following:

7 ‘‘(E) the calling party being assessed, by

8 virtue of being asked to connect or otherwise

9 transfer to a pay-per-call service, a charge for

10 the call.’’.

11 SEC. 7. SCRAMBLING OF CABLE CHANNELS FOR

12 NONSUBSCRIBERS.

13 Part IV of title VI of the Communications Act of

14 1934 (47 U.S.C. 551 et seq.) is amended by adding at

15 the end the following:

16 ‘‘SEC. 640. SCRAMBLING OF CABLE CHANNELS FOR

17 NONSUBSCRIBERS.

18 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—In providing video program19 ming unsuitable for children to any subscriber through a

20 cable system, a cable operator shall fully scramble or oth21 erwise fully block the video and audio portion of each

22 channel carrying such programming so that one not a sub23 scriber does not receive it.

24 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

25 ‘scramble’ means to rearrange the content of the signal
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1 of the programming so that the programming cannot be

2 received by persons unauthorized to receive the program3 ming.’’.

4 SEC. 8. CABLE OPERATOR REFUSAL TO CARRY CERTAIN

5 PROGRAMS.

6 (a) PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, AND GOVERNMENTAL

7 CHANNELS.—Section 611(e) of the Communications Act

8 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 531(e)) is amended by inserting before

9 the period the following: ‘‘, except a cable operator may

10 refuse to transmit any public access program or portion

11 of a public access program which contains obscenity, inde12 cency, or nudity’’.

13 (b) CABLE CHANNELS FOR COMMERCIAL USE.—Sec14 tion 612(c)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

15 U.S.C. 532(c)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘an operator’’

16 and inserting ‘‘a cable operator may refuse to transmit

17 any leased access program or portion of a leased access

18 program which contains obscenity, indecency, or nudity.

Æ