II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4965 

To regulate the posting of personal information of government officials on 

the internet, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 3, 2020 

Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mrs. LOEFFLER, Mr. PERDUE, and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To regulate the posting of personal information of 

government officials on the internet, 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 ‘‘Public Servant Protec5 tion Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRIVACY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OF GOVERN7 MENT OFFICIALS. 

8 (a) CRIMINAL PROVISION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 88 of title 18, 

2 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

3 end the following: 

4 ‘‘§ 1802. Privacy of personal information of govern5 ment officials 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL.—The term ‘gov8 ernment official’ means— 

9 ‘‘(A) any officer or employee described in 

10 section 1114; and 

11 ‘‘(B) any officer or employee of a State, a 

12 political subdivision of a State, or a Tribal gov13 ernment. 

14 ‘‘(2) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER.—The term 

15 ‘immediate family member’ has the meaning given 

16 the term in section 115. 

17 ‘‘(3) PERSONAL INFORMATION.—The term ‘per18 sonal information’ means— 

19 ‘‘(A) a home address; or 

20 ‘‘(B) a home phone number. 

21 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means any 

22 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

23 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is24 lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth 


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1 of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession 

2 of the United States. 

3 ‘‘(5) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘Tribal 

4 government’ has the meaning given the term ‘Indian 

5 tribal government’ in section 102 of the Robert T. 

6 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

7 Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 

8 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any per9 son to publicly display on the internet the personal infor10 mation of a government official or an immediate family 

11 member of a government official with the intent to cause 

12 bodily harm or other injury to an individual. 

13 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—A person who violates subsection 

14 (b)— 

15 ‘‘(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 

16 for not more than 1 year, or both; and 

17 ‘‘(2) if bodily injury or death results from the 

18 violation, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 

19 for any term of years or life, or both.’’. 

20 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec21 tions for chapter 88 of title 18, United States Code, 

22 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1802. Privacy of personal information of government officials.’’. 

23 (b) CIVIL PROVISION.— 

24 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 (A) GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL; PERSONAL

2 INFORMATION.—The terms ‘‘government offi3 cial’’ and ‘‘personal information’’ have the 

4 meanings given those terms in section 1802 of 

5 title 18, United States Code, as added by sub6 section (a). 

7 (B) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER.—The 

8 term ‘‘immediate family member’’ has the 

9 meaning given the term in section 115 of title 

10 18, United States Code. 

11 (C) INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE.— 

12 The term ‘‘interactive computer service’’ has 

13 the meaning given the term in section 230 of 

14 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

15 230). 

16 (2) WRITTEN DEMAND TO PERSONS.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—A government official 

18 may directly, or through an agent designated by 

19 the government official, make a written demand 

20 to a person to refrain from publicly displaying 

21 on the internet the personal information of the 

22 government official or an immediate family 

23 member of the government official. 


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1 (B) EFFECT OF WRITTEN DEMAND.—If a 

2 government official makes a written demand to 

3 a person under subparagraph (A), the person— 

4 (i) shall, not later than 48 hours after 

5 the receipt of the written demand, remove 

6 any personal information of the govern7 ment official or an immediate family mem8 ber of the government official displayed on 

9 the internet by the person; and 

10 (ii) during the 4-year period following 

11 the date of the receipt of the written de12 mand, may not publicly display on the 

13 internet the personal information of the 

14 government official or an immediate family 

15 member of the government official. 

16 (3) WRITTEN DEMAND TO INTERACTIVE COM17 PUTER SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—A government official 

19 may directly, or through an agent designated by 

20 the government official, make a written demand 

21 to the provider of an interactive computer serv22 ice to remove the personal information of the 

23 government official or an immediate family 

24 member of the government official that is pubVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4965.IS S4965

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1 licly displayed on the interactive computer serv2 ice. 

3 (B) EFFECT OF WRITTEN DEMAND.—If a 

4 government official makes a written demand to 

5 the provider of an interactive computer service 

6 under subparagraph (A), the provider shall, not 

7 later than 48 hours after the receipt of the 

8 written demand, remove from the interactive 

9 computer service any personal information of 

10 the government official or an immediate family 

11 member of the government official that is pub12 licly displayed on the interactive computer serv13 ice. 

14 (4) CAUSE OF ACTION.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—A government official 

16 who is aggrieved by a violation of paragraph 

17 (2)(B) or (3)(B) may bring a civil action 

18 against the person or the provider of an inter19 active computer service, respectively, that vio20 lated that paragraph in an appropriate district 

21 court of the United States. 

22 (B) RELIEF.—In an action under subpara23 graph (A), the court may award— 

24 (i) injunctive relief; 


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1 (ii) if injury or damage results from 

2 the violation of paragraph (2)(B) or 

3 (3)(B), the greater of— 

4 (I) actual damages; or 

5 (II) $1,000; and 

6 (iii) reasonable costs and attorney’s 

7 fees. 

Æ 


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