I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3508

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the sale of personal

information about children without their parents’ consent, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 22, 1996

Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. FROST, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr.

NEY, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. FAZIO of California, Mr.

WELDON of Florida, and Mr. HORN) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the sale

of personal information about children without their parents’ consent, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Children’s Privacy Pro5 tection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES RELATING

2 TO PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT CHIL3 DREN.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 89 of title 18, United

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow6 ing:

7 ‘‘§ 1822. Sale of personal information about children

8 ‘‘(a) Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign

9 commerce—

10 ‘‘(1) being a list broker, knowingly—

11 ‘‘(A) sells, purchases, or receives remu12 neration for providing personal information

13 about a child without the written consent of a

14 parent of that child, or

15 ‘‘(B) conditions any sale or service to a

16 child or to that child’s parent on the granting

17 of such a consent;

18 ‘‘(2) being a list broker, knowingly fails to com19 ply with the request of a parent—

20 ‘‘(A) to disclose the source of personal in21 formation about that parent’s child;

22 ‘‘(B) to disclose all information that has

23 been sold by that list broker about that child

24 and all other information in the possession of

25 that list broker, except information which under
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1 common law, statute, or the Constitution may

2 not be disclosed; or

3 ‘‘(C) to disclose the identity of all persons

4 to whom personal information about that child

5 has been disclosed;

6 ‘‘(3) being a person who, using any personal in7 formation about a child in the course of commerce

8 that was obtained for commercial purposes, has di9 rectly contacted that child or a parent of that child

10 to offer a commercial product or service to that

11 child, knowingly fails to comply with the request of

12 a parent—

13 ‘‘(A) to disclose the source of personal in14 formation about that parent’s child;

15 ‘‘(B) to disclose all information that has

16 been sold by that person about that child and

17 all other information in the possession of that

18 individual, except information which under com19 mon law, statute, or the Constitution may not

20 be disclosed; or

21 ‘‘(C) to disclose the identity of all persons

22 to whom personal information about that child

23 has been disclosed;

24 ‘‘(4) knowingly uses personal information about

25 a child that was collected from the child by the user
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1 for commercial purposes in connection with a game,

2 contest, or club, sponsored by that user, to contact

3 that child other than in direct connection with that

4 game, contest, or club, without the permission of a

5 parent of that child;

6 ‘‘(5) knowingly uses prison inmate labor, or any

7 worker who is registered pursuant to title XVII of

8 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement

9 Act of 1994, for data processing of personal infor10 mation about children; or

11 ‘‘(6) knowingly distributes or receives any per12 sonal information about a child, knowing or having

13 reason to believe that the information will be used

14 to abuse the child or physically to harm the child;

15 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than

16 one year, or both.

17 ‘‘(b) A child with respect to whom a violation of this

18 section occurs may in a civil action obtain appropriate re19 lief, including statutory money damages of not less than

20 $1,000. The court shall award a prevailing plaintiff in a

21 civil action under this subsection a reasonable attorney’s

22 fee as a part of the costs.

23 ‘‘(c) As used in this section—

24 ‘‘(1) the term ‘child’ means a person who has

25 not attained the age of 16 years;
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1 ‘‘(2) the term ‘‘parent’’ includes a legal guard2 ian;

3 ‘‘(3) the term ‘personal information’ means in4 formation (including name, address, telephone num5 ber, social security number, electronic mail address,

6 and physical description) about an individual identi7 fied as a child, that would suffice to locate and con8 tact that individual; and

9 ‘‘(4) the term ‘list broker’ means a person who,

10 in the course of business, provides mailing lists,

11 computerized or telephone reference services, or the

12 like containing personal information of children.’’

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

14 at the beginning of chapter 89 of title 18, United States

15 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new

16 item:

‘‘1822. Sale of personal information about children.’’.

Æ