I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2896 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide that it is unlawful to 

knowingly distribute private intimate visual depictions with reckless disregard for the individual’s lack of consent to the distribution, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2019 

Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mrs. BUSTOS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. 

DEAN, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. 

HAALAND, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. KATKO, Ms. 

KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

MEEKS, Ms. MOORE, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. SOTO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. TONKO, Ms. FRANKEL, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. 

ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. TED LIEU

of California, and Ms. HILL of California) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide that 

it is unlawful to knowingly distribute private intimate 

visual depictions with reckless disregard for the individual’s lack of consent to the distribution, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Harmful 

3 Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution Act of 

4 2019’’ or the ‘‘SHIELD Act of 2019’’. 

5 SEC. 2. CERTAIN ACTIVITIES RELATING TO INTIMATE VIS6 UAL DEPICTIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 88 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘§ 1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual 

11 depictions 

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

13 ‘‘(1) COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The term 

14 ‘communications service’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) a service provided by a person that is 

16 a common carrier, as that term is defined in 

17 section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 

18 (47 U.S.C. 153), insofar as the person is acting 

19 as a common carrier; 

20 ‘‘(B) an electronic communication service, 

21 as that term is defined in section 2510; 

22 ‘‘(C) an information service, as that term 

23 is defined in section 3 of the Communications 

24 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); and 

25 ‘‘(D) an interactive computer service, as 

26 that term is defined in section 230(f) of the 


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1 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

2 230(f)). 

3 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION CONTENT PROVIDER.—The 

4 term ‘information content provider’ has the meaning 

5 given that term in section 230(f) of the Communica6 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)). 

7 ‘‘(3) INTIMATE VISUAL DEPICTION.—The term 

8 ‘intimate visual depiction’ means any visual depic9 tion (as that term is defined in section 2256(5))— 

10 ‘‘(A) of an individual who is reasonably 

11 identifiable from the visual depiction itself or 

12 information displayed in connection with the 

13 visual depiction; 

14 ‘‘(B) in which— 

15 ‘‘(i) the individual has obtained 18 

16 years of age and is engaging in sexually 

17 explicit conduct; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) the naked genitals, anus, pubic 

19 area or post-pubescent female nipple of the 

20 individual are visible; 

21 ‘‘(C) in which the content described in sub22 paragraph (B) is not simulated; and 

23 ‘‘(D) in original or modified format. 


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1 ‘‘(4) SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONDUCT.—The term 

2 ‘sexually explicit conduct’ has the meaning given 

3 that term in section 2256(2)(A). 

4 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—Except as provided in subsection 

5 (d), it shall be unlawful to knowingly use any means or 

6 facility of interstate or foreign commerce to distribute an 

7 intimate visual depiction of an individual— 

8 ‘‘(1) with knowledge of or reckless disregard 

9 for— 

10 ‘‘(A) the lack of consent of the individual 

11 to the distribution; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the reasonable expectation of the in13 dividual that the depiction would remain pri14 vate; and 

15 ‘‘(2) without an objectively reasonable belief 

16 that such distribution touches upon a matter of pub17 lic concern. 

18 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

19 (b) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 

20 than 5 years, or both. 

21 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) LAW ENFORCEMENT, LAWFUL REPORTING, 

23 AND OTHER LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.—This section— 

24 ‘‘(A) does not prohibit any lawful law en25 forcement, correctional, or intelligence activity; 


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1 ‘‘(B) shall not apply in the case of an indi2 vidual acting in good faith to report unlawful 

3 activity or in pursuance of a legal or profes4 sional or other lawful obligation; and 

5 ‘‘(C) shall not apply in the case of a docu6 ment production or filing associated with a legal 

7 proceeding. 

8 ‘‘(2) SERVICE PROVIDERS.—This section shall 

9 not apply to any provider of a communications serv10 ice with regard to content provided by another infor11 mation content provider unless the provider of the 

12 communications service intentionally solicits, or 

13 knowingly and predominantly distributes, content 

14 that the provider of the communications service ac15 tually knows is in violation of this section. 

16 ‘‘(e) THREATS.—Any person who intentionally 

17 threatens to commit an offense under subsection (b) shall 

18 be punished as provided in subsection (c). 

19 ‘‘(f) VENUE AND EXTRATERRITORIALITY.—A pros20 ecution under this section may be brought in a district 

21 where the defendant or the depicted individual resides or 

22 in a district where the intimate visual depictions are dis23 tributed or made available. There is extraterritorial Fed24 eral jurisdiction over an offense under this section if the 


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1 defendant or the depicted individual is a citizen or perma2 nent resident of the United States.’’. 

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

4 of chapter 88 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

5 by inserting after the item relating to section 1801 the 

6 following: 

‘‘1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual depictions.’’. 

Æ 


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