I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3783
To amend section 223 of the Communications Act of 1934 to require persons
who are engaged in the business of selling or transferring, by means
of the World Wide Web, material that is harmful to minors to restrict
access to such material by minors, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 30, 1998
Mr. OXLEY (for himself, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. MANTON, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr.
DEAL of Georgia, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. NORWOOD, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr.
BURR of North Carolina, and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend section 223 of the Communications Act of 1934
to require persons who are engaged in the business of
selling or transferring, by means of the World Wide
Web, material that is harmful to minors to restrict access
to such material by minors, 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 ‘‘Child Online Protec-
tion Act’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) as access to and use of the World Wide
Web becomes ubiquitous, the Web and information
transmitted over it may become more invasive and
intrusive in individual and family lives;
(2) children now have greater opportunities for
access to the World Wide Web and such access is
continually expanding;
(3) while custody, care, and nurture of the child
reside first with the parent, the widespread availabil-
ity of computers presents opportunities for minors to
access materials through the World Wide Web in a
manner that can frustrate parental supervision or
control;
(4) the protection of the physical and psycho-
logical well-being of minors by shielding them from
materials that are harmful to them is a compelling
governmental interest; and
(5) the Federal Government has a compelling
interest in ensuring that minors are restricted in
their access to materials sold or transferred by
means of the World Wide Web that are harmful to
minors.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO RESTRICT ACCESS BY MINORS
TO MATERIALS SOLD OR TRANSFERRED BY
MEANS OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB THAT ARE
HARMFUL TO MINORS.
(a) REQUIREMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 223 of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223) is amended—
(A) by redesignating subsections (e), (f),
(g), and (h) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i),
respectively; and
(B) by inserting after subsection (d) the
following new subsection (e):
‘‘(e)(1) Whoever in interstate or foreign commerce is
engaged in the business of selling or transferring, by
means of the World Wide Web, material that is harmful
to minors shall restrict access to such material by persons
under 17 years of age.
‘‘(2) Any person who violates paragraph (1) shall be
fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned not more than
six months, or both.
‘‘(3) In addition to the penalties under paragraph (2),
whoever intentionally violates paragraph (1) shall be sub-
ject to a fine of not more than $50,000 for each violation.
For purposes of this paragraph, each day of violation shall
constitute a separate violation.
‘‘(4) In addition to the penalties under paragraphs
(2) and (3), whoever violates paragraph (1) shall be sub-
ject to a civil fine of not more than $50,000 for each viola-
tion. For purposes of this paragraph, each day of violation
shall constitute a separate violation.
‘‘(5) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
this subsection that the defendant restricted access to ma-
terial that is harmful to minors by persons under 17 years
of age by requiring use of a verified credit card, debit ac-
count, adult access code, or adult personal identification
number or in accordance with such other procedures as
the Commission may prescribe.
‘‘(6) This subsection may not be construed to author-
ize the Commission to regulate in any manner the content
of any information provided by means of the World Wide
Web.
‘‘(7) For purposes of this subsection:
‘‘(A) The term ‘by means of the World Wide
Web’ means by placement of material in a computer
server-based file archive so that it is publicly acces-
sible, over the Internet, using hypertext transfer pro-
tocol, file transfer protocol, or other similar proto-
cols.
‘‘(B) The term ‘engaged in the business’ means
that the person who sells or transfers or offers to
sell or transfer, by means of the World Wide Web,
material that is harmful to minors devotes time, at-
tention, or labor to such activities, as a regular
course of trade or business, with the objective of
earning a profit, although it is not necessary that
the person make a profit or that the selling or trans-
ferring or offering to sell or transfer such material
be the person’s sole or principal business or source
of income.
‘‘(C) The term ‘Internet’ means the combina-
tion of computer facilities and electromagnetic trans-
mission media, and related equipment and software,
comprising the interconnected worldwide network of
computer networks that employ the Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or any prede-
cessor or successor protocol to transmit information.
‘‘(D) The term ‘material that is harmful to mi-
nors’ means any communication, picture, image,
graphic image file, article, recording, writing, or
other matter of any kind that—
‘‘(i) taken as a whole and with respect to
minors, appeals to a prurient interest in nudity,
sex, or excretion;
‘‘(ii) depicts, describes, or represents, in a
patently offensive way with respect to what is
suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sex-
ual act or sexual contact, actual or simulated
normal or perverted sexual acts, or a lewd exhi-
bition of the genitals; and
‘‘(iii) taken as a whole, lacks serious lit-
erary, artistic, political, or scientific value for
minors.
‘‘(E) The terms ‘sexual act’ and ‘sexual contact’
have the meanings given such terms in section 2246
of title 18, United States Code.’’.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection (g)
of such section, as so redesignated, is amended by
striking ‘‘(e), or (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(f), or (g)’’.
(b) AVAILABILITY ON INTERNET OF DEFINITION OF
MATERIAL THAT IS HARMFUL TO MINORS.—The Federal
Communications Commission shall post or otherwise make
available on the World Wide Web site of the Commission
such information as is necessary to inform the public of
the meaning of the term ‘‘material that is harmful to mi-
nors’’ under section 223(e) of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended by subsection (a).
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