I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3508
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 22, 1996
Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. FROST, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr.
NEY, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. FAZIO of California, Mr.
WELDON of Florida, and Mr. HORN) introduced the following bill; which
was 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 par-
ents’ consent, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Privacy Pro-
tection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES RELATING
TO PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT CHIL-
DREN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 89 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘§ 1822. Sale of personal information about children
‘‘(a) Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign
commerce—
‘‘(1) being a list broker, knowingly—
‘‘(A) sells, purchases, or receives remu-
neration for providing personal information
about a child without the written consent of a
parent of that child, or
‘‘(B) conditions any sale or service to a
child or to that child’s parent on the granting
of such a consent;
‘‘(2) being a list broker, knowingly fails to com-
ply with the request of a parent—
‘‘(A) to disclose the source of personal in-
formation about that parent’s child;
‘‘(B) to disclose all information that has
been sold by that list broker about that child
and all other information in the possession of
that list broker, except information which under
common law, statute, or the Constitution may
not be disclosed; or
‘‘(C) to disclose the identity of all persons
to whom personal information about that child
has been disclosed;
‘‘(3) being a person who, using any personal in-
formation about a child in the course of commerce
that was obtained for commercial purposes, has di-
rectly contacted that child or a parent of that child
to offer a commercial product or service to that
child, knowingly fails to comply with the request of
a parent—
‘‘(A) to disclose the source of personal in-
formation about that parent’s child;
‘‘(B) to disclose all information that has
been sold by that person about that child and
all other information in the possession of that
individual, except information which under com-
mon law, statute, or the Constitution may not
be disclosed; or
‘‘(C) to disclose the identity of all persons
to whom personal information about that child
has been disclosed;
‘‘(4) knowingly uses personal information about
a child that was collected from the child by the user
for commercial purposes in connection with a game,
contest, or club, sponsored by that user, to contact
that child other than in direct connection with that
game, contest, or club, without the permission of a
parent of that child;
‘‘(5) knowingly uses prison inmate labor, or any
worker who is registered pursuant to title XVII of
the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement
Act of 1994, for data processing of personal infor-
mation about children; or
‘‘(6) knowingly distributes or receives any per-
sonal information about a child, knowing or having
reason to believe that the information will be used
to abuse the child or physically to harm the child;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
one year, or both.
‘‘(b) A child with respect to whom a violation of this
section occurs may in a civil action obtain appropriate re-
lief, including statutory money damages of not less than
$1,000. The court shall award a prevailing plaintiff in a
civil action under this subsection a reasonable attorney’s
fee as a part of the costs.
‘‘(c) As used in this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘child’ means a person who has
not attained the age of 16 years;
‘‘(2) the term ‘‘parent’’ includes a legal guard-
ian;
‘‘(3) the term ‘personal information’ means in-
formation (including name, address, telephone num-
ber, social security number, electronic mail address,
and physical description) about an individual identi-
fied as a child, that would suffice to locate and con-
tact that individual; and
‘‘(4) the term ‘list broker’ means a person who,
in the course of business, provides mailing lists,
computerized or telephone reference services, or the
like containing personal information of children.’’
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
at the beginning of chapter 89 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new
item:
‘‘1822. Sale of personal information about children.’’.
Æ