I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3089

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to provide parents

with greater control of their children’s access to online material.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 14, 1996

Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. FARR of California,

Mr. GEJDENSON, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to

provide parents with greater control of their children’s

access to online material.

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 ‘‘Online Parental Con5 trol Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. SUBSTITUTION OF HARMFUL TO MINORS FOR INDE7 CENCY STANDARD.

8 (a) DIRECT COMMUNICATIONS.—Section

9 223(a)(1)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
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1 U.S.C. 223(a)(1)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘indecent’’

2 and inserting ‘‘harmful to minors’’.

3 (b) INDIRECT COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 223(d)(1)

4 of such Act is amended to read as follows:

5 ‘‘(1) in interstate or foreign communications

6 knowingly—

7 ‘‘(A) uses an interactive computer service

8 to send to a specific person or persons under 18

9 years of age, or

10 ‘‘(B) uses any interactive computer service

11 to display in a manner available to a person

12 under 18 years of age,

13 any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image,

14 or other communication that is harmful to minors,

15 regardless of whether the user of such service placed

16 the call or initiated the communication; or’’.

17 (c) DEFINITION OF HARMFUL TO MINORS.—Section

18 223(h) of such Act is amended by adding at the end the

19 following new paragraph:

20 ‘‘(6) HARMFUL TO MINORS.—The term ‘harm21 ful to minors’ means sexually explicit matter which

22 meets all of the following criteria:

23 ‘‘(A) Considered as a whole, the matter ap24 peals to the prurient interest of minors.
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1 ‘‘(B) The matter is patently offensive as

2 determined by contemporary local community

3 standards in terms of what is suitable for mi4 nors.

5 ‘‘(C) Considered as a whole, the matter

6 lacks serious literary, artistic, political, edu7 cational, or scientific value for minors.’’.

8 SEC. 3. PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND

9 SCREENING OF MATERIAL.

10 (a) PROTECTION FROM FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

11 INDECENCY LAW.—Section 223(e)(5) of the Communica12 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223(e)(5)) is amended—

13 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

14 (A);

15 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub16 paragraph (B) and inserting a semicolon;

17 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following

18 new subparagraphs:

19 ‘‘(C) has, in good faith—

20 ‘‘(i) labeled such communications as

21 inappropriate for minors,

22 ‘‘(ii) placed such communications in a

23 segregated access site identified as inap24 propriate for minors, or
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1 ‘‘(iii) otherwise established a mecha2 nism,

3 and that labeling, segregation, or other mecha4 nism enables such communications to be auto5 matically blocked or screened by software or

6 other capabilities reasonably available to re7 sponsible adults wishing to effect such blocking

8 or screening, and has not otherwise solicited mi9 nors not subject to such screening or blocking

10 capabilities to access the communications or to

11 circumvent any such screening or blocking; or

12 ‘‘(D) has, in good faith, installed or pro13 vided some other device, system, or method that

14 serves the function of allowing adults to prevent

15 access to such communications by minors and

16 that is as reasonable, effective, and appropriate

17 as a method described in subparagraph (A),

18 (B), or (C) in preventing such access.’’.

19 (b) PROTECTION FROM STATE LAW.—Section 230(c)

20 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(c))

21 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new

22 paragraph:

23 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION FOR MAKING AVAILABLE PA24 RENTAL CONTROL TECHNOLOGY..—No provider or

25 user of an interactive computer service, information
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1 content provider, or access software provider shall be

2 held civilly or criminally liable for making available

3 to a minor a communication that is indecent or

4 harmful to minors if such provider or user has taken

5 an action that qualifies as a defense under subpara6 graph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of section 223(d).’’.

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