I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2472
To protect children from unsolicited e-mail smut containing sexually oriented
advertisements offensive to minors.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 11, 2001
Ms. LOFGREN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Science, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and
Commerce, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To protect children from unsolicited e-mail smut containing
sexually oriented advertisements offensive to minors.
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 ‘‘Protect Children From
E-Mail Smut Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND POLICY.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) Congress recognized that the Nation had a
compelling interest in preventing minors from being
exposed to mailings containing sexually oriented ad-
vertisements when it enacted title 39, United States
Code, section 3010, and title 18, United States
Code, sections 1735 and 1737.
(2) Congress required anyone sending a mailing
containing sexually oriented advertisements to place
a mark or notice prescribed by the Postal Service on
the mailing envelope or cover.
(3) E-mails may contain the same kind of sexu-
ally oriented advertisements harmful to minors but
there is presently no comparable requirement that e-
mails contain any marking or notice to alert the re-
cipient that the e-mail contains sexually oriented ad-
vertisements.
(4) Requiring a marking or notice that an e-
mail contains sexually oriented advertisements will
enable the parents of minors to take the necessary
steps to block such material and thus protect their
children from being exposed to such sexually ori-
ented advertisements.
(5) The National Institute of Standards and
Technology (hereinafter in this Act referred to as
NIST), a nonregulatory agency within the Com-
merce Department’s Technology Administration, is
technologically competent to prescribe marks or
other signifiers that an e-mail contains sexually ori-
ented advertisements.
(b) CONGRESSIONAL DETERMINATION
OF PUBLIC
POLICY.—On the basis of the findings in subsection (a),
the Congress determines that—
(1) there is substantial government interest in
the regulation of unsolicited e-mails containing sexu-
ally oriented advertisements that are forwarded to
children; and
(2) the best method to regulate such unsolicited
e-mails is to enable the children or parents acting on
behalf of the children to screen or block such unso-
licited e-mails using marks or signifiers prescribed
by the NIST.
SEC. 3. CRIMINAL PROHIBITION AGAINST SENDING SEXU-
ALLY ORIENTED MATERIAL TO CHILDREN
WITHOUT THE PRESCRIBED MARKINGS OR
NOTICE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the NIST shall pre-
scribe marks or notices to be included or affixed to any
e-mail that contains a sexually oriented advertisement for-
warded to children. Such marks shall, to the extent pos-
sible, be made so that they may not be removed or altered.
(b) PUNISHMENT.—Whoever willfully and knowingly
forwards to a minor an e-mail, that is carried on an instru-
mentality in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce,
that includes sexually oriented advertisements but does
not include the mark or notice as prescribed by the NIST
in subsection (a) of this section shall be fined under this
Act or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.
(c) PUNISHMENT.—Whoever reproduces or manufac-
tures any sexually related mail matter, intending or know-
ing that such matter will be forwarded to a minor in an
e-mail in violation of subsection (b) of this section, shall
be fined under this Act or imprisoned not more than 5
years, or both, for the first offense, and shall be fined
under this Act or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or
both, for any second, or subsequent offense. As used in
this section the term ‘‘sexually related mail matter’’ means
any matter described in subsection (d) of this section.
(d) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘sexually oriented ad-
vertisement’’ means any advertisement that depicts, in ac-
tual or simulated form, or explicitly describes, in a pre-
dominantly sexual context, human genitalia, any act of
natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism
or masochism, or any other erotic subject directly related
to the foregoing. Material otherwise within the definition
of this subsection shall be deemed not to constitute a sexu-