II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 431 

To require convicted sex offenders to register online identifiers, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 30, 2007 

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mr. MCCAIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require convicted sex offenders to register online 

identifiers, 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 ‘‘Keeping the Internet 

5 Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2007’’ or the ‘‘KIDS 

6 Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REGISTRATION OF ONLINE IDENTIFIERS OF SEX 

2 OFFENDERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 114(a) of the Sex Of4 fender Registration and Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 16914(a)) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 

7 (7) as paragraphs (5) through (8); and 

8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(4) Any electronic mail address, instant mes11 sage address, or other similar Internet identifier the 

12 sex offender used or will use to communicate over 

13 the Internet.’’. 

14 (b) UPDATING OF INFORMATION.—Section 113(c) of 

15 the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (42 

16 U.S.C. 16913(c)) is amended by inserting ‘‘and before any 

17 use of an electronic mail address, instant message address, 

18 or other similar Internet identifier not provided under sub19 section (b) by the sex offender to communicate over the 

20 Internet,’’ after ‘‘or student status,’’. 

21 (c) FAILURE TO REGISTER ONLINE IDENTIFIERS.— 

22 Section 2250 of title 18, United States Code, is amend23 ed— 

24 (1) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘or (d)’’ after 

25 ‘‘subsection (a)’’; and 

26 (2) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(d) FAILURE TO REGISTER ONLINE IDENTI2 FIERS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

4 person who is required to register under the Sex Of5 fender Registration and Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 16901 et seq.) to fail to provide an electronic mail 

7 address, instant message address, or other similar 

8 Internet identifier used by that person to commu9 nicate over the Internet to the appropriate official 

10 for inclusion in the sex offender registry, as required 

11 under that Act. 

12 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Any person who violates para13 graph (1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 

14 not more than 10 years, or both.’’. 

15 SEC. 3. RELEASE OF ELECTRONIC MAIL ADDRESSES, IN16 STANT MESSAGE ADDRESSES, OR OTHER 

17 SIMILAR INTERNET IDENTIFIERS. 

18 (a) PUBLIC ACCESS.—Section 118(b) of the Sex Of19 fender Registration and Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 

20 16918(b)) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

22 end; 

23 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para24 graph (5); and 


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1 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(4) any electronic mail address, instant mes4 sage address, or other similar Internet identifier 

5 used by the sex offender; and’’. 

6 (b) NATIONAL REGISTRY.—Section 119 of the Sex 

7 Offender Registration and Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 

8 16919) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(c) RELEASE OF ELECTRONIC MAIL ADDRESSES, 

10 INSTANT MESSAGE ADDRESSES, OR OTHER SIMILAR

11 INTERNET IDENTIFIERS TO COMMERCIAL SOCIAL NET12 WORKING WEBSITE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

14 maintain a system allowing a commercial social net15 working website to compare the database of reg16 istered users of that commercial social networking 

17 website to the list of electronic mail addresses, in18 stant message addresses, and other similar Internet 

19 identifiers of persons in the National Sex Offender 

20 Registry. 

21 ‘‘(2) PROCESS FOR RELEASE OF ELECTRONIC

22 MAIL ADDRESSES, INSTANT MESSAGE ADDRESSES, 

23 OR OTHER SIMILAR INTERNET IDENTIFIERS.—A 

24 commercial social networking website desiring to 

25 compare its database of registered users to the list 


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1 of electronic mail addresses, instant messages, and 

2 other similar Internet identifiers of persons in the 

3 National Sex Offender Registry shall provide to the 

4 Attorney General— 

5 ‘‘(A) the name, address, and telephone 

6 number of the commercial social networking 

7 website; 

8 ‘‘(B) the specific legal nature and cor9 porate status of the commercial social net10 working website; 

11 ‘‘(C) an affirmation signed by the chief 

12 legal officer of the commercial social networking 

13 website that the information obtained from that 

14 database shall not be disclosed for any purpose 

15 other than for comparing the database of reg16 istered users of that commercial social net17 working website against the list of electronic 

18 mail addresses, instant message addresses, and 

19 other similar Internet identifiers of persons in 

20 the National Sex Offender Registry to protect 

21 children from online sexual predators and that 

22 disclosure of this information for purposes other 

23 than those under this section may be unlawful; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(D) the name, address, and telephone 

2 number of a natural person who consents to 

3 service of process for the commercial social net4 working website. 

5 ‘‘(3) USE OF DATABASE.—After a commercial 

6 social networking website has complied with para7 graph (2) and paid any fee established by the Attor8 ney General, the commercial social networking 

9 website may screen new users or compare its data10 base of registered users to the list of electronic mail 

11 addresses, instant message addresses, and other 

12 similar Internet identifiers of persons in the Na13 tional Sex Offender Registry as frequently as the At14 torney General may allow for the purpose of identi15 fying a registered user associated with an electronic 

16 mail address, instant message address, or other 

17 similar Internet identifier contained in the National 

18 Sex Offender Registry. 

19 ‘‘(4) LIABILITY RELIEF FOR SOCIAL NET20 WORKING SITES USING THE REGISTRY INFORMATION

21 TO PROTECT USERS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a commercial social 

23 networking website complies with this section, a 

24 covered civil action against that commercial so25 cial networking website or any director, officer, 


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1 employee, or agent of that commercial social 

2 networking website may not be brought in any 

3 Federal or State court. 

4 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

5 term ‘covered civil action’ means a civil action 

6 relating to the use of the information in the 

7 National Sex Offender Registry by a commer8 cial social networking website to screen users or 

9 compare its database of registered users for the 

10 purpose of identifying a registered user associ11 ated with an electronic mail address, instant 

12 message address, or other similar Internet iden13 tifier information contained in the National Sex 

14 Offender Registry. 

15 ‘‘(5) INTERIM PERIOD.—In any interim period 

16 before the National Sex Offender Registry is imple17 mented, any commercial social networking website 

18 shall have access to the electronic mail addresses, in19 stant message addresses, and other similar Internet 

20 identifiers of persons required to register in a juris21 diction’s sex offender registry through the methods 

22 set forth in paragraphs (2) and (3). Until such time 

23 as the National Sex Offender Registry is imple24 mented, the term ‘Attorney General’ shall be re25 placed with ‘the jurisdiction’ and the term ‘the NaVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:16 Jan 31, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S431.IS S431

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1 tional Sex Offender Registry’ shall be replaced with 

2 ‘a jurisdiction’s sex offender registry’ in paragraphs 

3 (2) and (3).’’. 

4 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

5 Section 111 of the Sex Offender Registration and No6 tification Act (42 U.S.C. 16911) is amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (7)(H), by striking the period 

8 and inserting the following: ‘‘, except that it shall 

9 not be necessary to show that the sexual conduct ac10 tually occurred or to offer proof that the defendant 

11 engaged in an act, other than use of the Internet to 

12 facilitate criminal sexual conduct involving a 

13 minor.’’; and 

14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(15) The term ‘commercial social networking 

16 website’ means a commercially operated Internet 

17 website that— 

18 ‘‘(A) allows users to create web pages or 

19 profiles that provide information about them20 selves and are available publicly or to other 

21 users; and 

22 ‘‘(B) offers a mechanism for communica23 tion with other users, such as a forum, chat 

24 room, electronic mail, or instant messenger. 


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1 ‘‘(16) The term ‘chat room’ means any Internet 

2 website through which a number of users can com3 municate in real time via text and that allows mes4 sages to be almost immediately visible to all other 

5 users or to a designated segment of all other users. 

6 ‘‘(17) The term ‘Internet’ has the meaning 

7 given that term in section 1101 of the Internet Tax 

8 Freedom Act (47 U.S.C. 151 note). 

9 ‘‘(18) The term ‘electronic mail address’ has 

10 the meaning given that term in section 3 of the Con11 trolling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography 

12 and Marketing Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7702). 

13 ‘‘(19) The term ‘instant message address’ 

14 means an identifier that allows a person to commu15 nication in real-time with another person using the 

16 Internet.’’. 

17 SEC. 5. CRIMINALIZATION OF AGE MISREPRESENTATION IN 

18 CONNECTION WITH ONLINE SOLICITATION 

19 OF A MINOR. 

20 Section 2252C of title 18, United States Code, is 

21 amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

23 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 

24 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(c) AGE MISREPRESENTATION.—Any person 18 

2 years or older who knowingly misrepresents their age with 

3 the intent to use the Internet to engage in criminal sexual 

4 conduct involving a minor, or to facilitate or attempt such 

5 conduct, shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for 

6 not more than 20 years. Such penalty shall be in addition 

7 to any penalty pursuant to the laws of any jurisdiction 

8 for the crime of using the Internet to engage in criminal 

9 sexual conduct involving a minor, or to facilitate or at10 tempt such conduct.’’. 

Æ 


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