II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1545

To require schools and libraries receiving universal service assistance to install

systems or implement policies for blocking or filtering Internet access

to matter inappropriate for minors, to require a study of available Internet blocking or filtering software, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 5, 1999

Mr. SANTORUM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To require schools and libraries receiving universal service

assistance to install systems or implement policies for

blocking or filtering Internet access to matter inappropriate for minors, to require a study of available Internet

blocking or filtering software, 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 ‘‘Neighborhood Chil5 dren’s Internet Protection Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. NO UNIVERSAL SERVICE FOR SCHOOLS OR LIBRAR2 IES THAT FAIL TO IMPLEMENT A FILTERING

3 OR BLOCKING SYSTEM FOR COMPUTERS

4 WITH INTERNET ACCESS OR ADOPT INTER5 NET USE POLICIES.

6 (a) NO UNIVERSAL SERVICE.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 254 of the Commu8 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended

9 by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(l) IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNET FILTERING OR

11 BLOCKING SYSTEM OR USE POLICIES.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No services may be pro13 vided under subsection (h)(1)(B) to any elementary

14 or secondary school, or any library, unless it pro15 vides the certification required by paragraph (2) to

16 the Commission or its designee.

17 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—A certification under

18 this paragraph with respect to a school or library is

19 a certification by the school, school board, or other

20 authority with responsibility for administration of

21 the school, or the library, or any other entity rep22 resenting the school or library in applying for uni23 versal service assistance, that the school or library—

24 ‘‘(A) has—

25 ‘‘(i) selected a system for its com26 puters with Internet access that are dedi-
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1 cated to student use in order to filter or

2 block Internet access to matter considered

3 to be inappropriate for minors; and

4 ‘‘(ii) installed on such computers, or

5 upon obtaining such computers will install

6 on such computers, a system to filter or

7 block Internet access to such matter; or

8 ‘‘(B)(i) has adopted or implemented an

9 Internet use policy that addresses—

10 ‘‘(I) access by minors to inappropriate

11 matter on the Internet and World Wide

12 Web;

13 ‘‘(II) the safety and security of minors

14 when using electronic mail, chat rooms,

15 and other forms of direct electronic com16 munications;

17 ‘‘(III) unauthorized access, including

18 so-called ‘hacking’, and other unlawful ac19 tivities by minors online;

20 ‘‘(IV) unauthorized disclosure, use,

21 and dissemination of personal identifica22 tion information regarding minors; and

23 ‘‘(V) whether the school or library, as

24 the case may be, is employing hardware,

25 software, or other technological means to
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1 limit, monitor, or otherwise control or

2 guide Internet access by minors; and

3 ‘‘(ii) provided reasonable public notice and

4 held at least one public hearing or meeting

5 which addressed the proposed Internet use pol6 icy.

7 ‘‘(3) LOCAL DETERMINATION OF CONTENT.—

8 For purposes of a certification under paragraph (2),

9 the determination regarding what matter is inappro10 priate for minors shall be made by the school board,

11 library, or other authority responsible for making

12 the determination. No agency or instrumentality of

13 the United States Government may—

14 ‘‘(A) establish criteria for making such de15 termination;

16 ‘‘(B) review the determination made by the

17 certifying school, school board, library, or other

18 authority; or

19 ‘‘(C) consider the criteria employed by the

20 certifying school, school board, library, or other

21 authority in the administration of subsection

22 (h)(1)(B).

23 ‘‘(4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall

24 apply with respect to schools and libraries seeking
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1 universal service assistance under subsection

2 (h)(1)(B) on or after July 1, 2000.’’.

3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection

4 (h)(1)(B) of that section is amended by striking ‘‘All

5 telecommunications’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as pro6 vided by subsection (l), all telecommunications’’.

7 (b) STUDY.—Not later than 150 days after the date

8 of the enactment of this Act, the National Telecommuni9 cations and Information Administration shall initiate a no10 tice and comment proceeding for purposes of—

11 (1) evaluating whether or not currently avail12 able commercial Internet blocking and filtering soft13 ware adequately addresses the needs of educational

14 institutions;

15 (2) making recommendations on how to foster

16 the development of products which meet such needs;

17 and

18 (3) evaluating the development and effective19 ness of local Internet use policies that are currently

20 in operation after community input.

21 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS.

22 Not later than 100 days after the date of enactment

23 of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall
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1 adopt rules implementing this Act and the amendments

2 made by this Act.

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