IIB 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5319 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27 (legislative day, JULY 26), 2006 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require recipients of universal service support for schools and libraries 

to protect minors from commercial social networking 

websites and chat rooms. 

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 ‘‘Deleting Online Preda3 tors Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds that— 

6 (1) sexual predators approach minors on the 

7 Internet using chat rooms and social networking 

8 websites, and, according to the United States Attor9 ney General, one in five children has been ap10 proached sexually on the Internet; 

11 (2) sexual predators can use these chat rooms 

12 and websites to locate, learn about, befriend, and 

13 eventually prey on children by engaging them in sex14 ually explicit conversations, asking for photographs, 

15 and attempting to lure children into a face to face 

16 meeting; and 

17 (3) with the explosive growth of trendy chat 

18 rooms and social networking websites, it is becoming 

19 more and more difficult to monitor and protect mi20 nors from those with devious intentions, particularly 

21 when children are away from parental supervision. 

22 SEC. 3. CERTIFICATIONS TO INCLUDE PROTECTIONS 

23 AGAINST COMMERCIAL SOCIAL NETWORKING 

24 WEBSITES AND CHAT ROOMS. 

25 (a) CERTIFICATION BY SCHOOLS.—Section 

26 254(h)(5)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 


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1 U.S.C. 254(h)(5)(B)) is amended by striking clause (i) 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(i) is enforcing a policy of Internet 

4 safety for minors that includes monitoring 

5 the online activities of minors and the op6 eration of a technology protection measure 

7 with respect to any of its computers with 

8 Internet access that— 

9 ‘‘(I) protects against access 

10 through such computers to visual de11 pictions that are— 

12 ‘‘(aa) obscene; 

13 ‘‘(bb) child pornography; or 

14 ‘‘(cc) harmful to minors; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(II) protects against access to a 

17 commercial social networking website 

18 or chat room unless used for an edu19 cational purpose with adult super20 vision; and’’. 

21 (b) CERTIFICATION BY LIBRARIES.—Section 

22 254(h)(6)(B) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 254(h)(6)(B)) is 

23 amended by striking clause (i) and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(i) is enforcing a policy of Internet 

25 safety that includes the operation of a 


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1 technology protection measure with respect 

2 to any of its computers with Internet ac3 cess that— 

4 ‘‘(I) protects against access 

5 through such computers to visual de6 pictions that are— 

7 ‘‘(aa) obscene; 

8 ‘‘(bb) child pornography; or 

9 ‘‘(cc) harmful to minors; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(II) protects against access by 

12 minors without parental authorization 

13 to a commercial social networking 

14 website or chat room, and informs 

15 parents that sexual predators can use 

16 these websites and chat rooms to prey 

17 on children; and’’. 

18 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 254(h)(7) is amended by 

19 adding at the end the following new subparagraph: 

20 ‘‘(J) COMMERCIAL SOCIAL NETWORKING

21 WEBSITES; CHAT ROOMS.—Within 120 days 

22 after the date of enactment of the Deleting On23 line Predators Act of 2006, the Commission 

24 shall by rule define the terms ‘social networking 

25 website’ and ‘chat room’ for purposes of this 


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1 subsection. In determining the definition of a 

2 social networking website, the Commission shall 

3 take into consideration the extent to which a 

4 website— 

5 ‘‘(i) is offered by a commercial entity; 

6 ‘‘(ii) permits registered users to create 

7 an on-line profile that includes detailed 

8 personal information; 

9 ‘‘(iii) permits registered users to cre10 ate an on-line journal and share such a 

11 journal with other users; 

12 ‘‘(iv) elicits highly-personalized infor13 mation from users; and 

14 ‘‘(v) enables communication among 

15 users.’’. 

16 (d) DISABLING DURING ADULT OR EDUCATIONAL

17 USE.—Section 254(h)(5)(D) of such Act is amended— 

18 (1) by inserting ‘‘OR EDUCATIONAL’’ after 

19 ‘‘DURING ADULT’’ in the heading; and 

20 (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 

21 following: ‘‘or during use by an adult or by minors 

22 with adult supervision to enable access for edu23 cational purposes pursuant to subparagraph 

24 (B)(i)(II)’’ . 


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1 SEC. 4. FTC CONSUMER ALERT ON INTERNET DANGERS TO 

2 CHILDREN. 

3 (a) INFORMATION REGARDING CHILD PREDATORS

4 AND THE INTERNET.—Not later than 180 days after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commis6 sion shall— 

7 (1) issue a consumer alert regarding the poten8 tial dangers to children of Internet child predators, 

9 including the potential danger of commercial social 

10 networking websites and chat rooms through which 

11 personal information about child users of such 

12 websites may be accessed by child predators; and 

13 (2) establish a website to serve as a resource 

14 for information for parents, teachers and school ad15 ministrators, and others regarding the potential dan16 gers posed by the use of the Internet by children, in17 cluding information about commercial social net18 working websites and chat rooms through which per19 sonal information about child users of such websites 

20 may be accessed by child predators. 

21 (b) COMMERCIAL SOCIAL NETWORKING

22 WEBSITES.—For purposes of the requirements under sub23 section (a), the terms ‘‘commercial social networking 

24 website’’ and ‘‘chat room’’ have the meanings given such 

25 terms pursuant to section 254(h)(7)(J) of the CommuVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:48 Jul 28, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5319.RFS H5319

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1 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)(7)(J)), as 

2 amended by this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 26, 2006. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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