II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1908

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 26, 1996

Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and 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’’.
2

•S 1908 IS

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 knowing that such information

14 pertains to a child without the consent of a par15 ent of that child; or

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

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

18 of such a consent;

19 ‘‘(2) being a list broker, knowingly fails to com20 ply with the request of a parent—

21 ‘‘(A) to disclose the source of personal in22 formation about that parent’s child;

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

24 been sold or otherwise disclosed by that list

25 broker about that child; or
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•S 1908 IS

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

2 to whom the list broker has sold or otherwise

3 disclosed personal information about that child;

4 ‘‘(3) being a person who, using any personal in5 formation about a child in the course of commerce

6 that was obtained for commercial purposes, has di7 rectly contacted that child or a parent of that child

8 to offer a commercial product or service to that

9 child, knowingly fails to comply with the request of

10 a parent—

11 ‘‘(A) to disclose to the parent the source of

12 personal information about that parent’s child;

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

14 been sold or otherwise disclosed by that person

15 about that child; or

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

17 to whom such a person has sold or otherwise

18 disclosed personal information about that child;

19 ‘‘(4) knowingly uses prison inmate labor, or any

20 worker who is registered pursuant to title XVII of

21 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement

22 Act of 1994, for data processing of personal infor23 mation about children; or

24 ‘‘(5) knowingly distributes or receives any per25 sonal information about a child, knowing or having
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1 reason to believe that the information will be used

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

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

4 one year, or both.

5 ‘‘(b) A child or the parent of that child with respect

6 to whom a violation of this section occurs may in a civil

7 action obtain appropriate relief, including statutory money

8 damages of not less than $1,000. The court shall award

9 a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action under this subsection

10 a reasonable attorney’s fee as a part of the costs.

11 ‘‘(c) As used in this section—

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

13 not attained the age of 16 years;

14 ‘‘(2) the term ‘‘parent’’ includes a legal guard15 ian;

16 ‘‘(3) the term ‘personal information’ means in17 formation (including name, address, telephone num18 ber, social security number, and physical descrip19 tion) about an individual identified as a child, that

20 would suffice to physically locate and contact that

21 individual; and

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

23 in the course of business, provides mailing lists,

24 computerized or telephone reference services, or the

25 like containing personal information of children.’’
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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

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

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

4 item:

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

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