IB
Union Calendar No. 441
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3783
[Report No. 105–775]
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
OCTOBER 5, 1998
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 30, 1998]
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 Protection
Act’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) while custody, care, and nurture of the child
resides first with the parent, the widespread availabil-
ity of the Internet presents opportunities for minors
to access materials through the World Wide Web in a
manner that can frustrate parental supervision or
control;
(2) 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;
(3) to date, while the industry has developed in-
novative ways to help parents and educators restrict
material that is harmful to minors through parental
control protections and self-regulation, such efforts
have not provided a national solution to the problem
of minors accessing harmful material on the World
Wide Web;
(4) a prohibition on the distribution of material
harmful to minors, combined with legitimate defenses,
is currently the most effective means by which to sat-
isfy the compelling government interest; and
(5) notwithstanding the existence of protections
that limit the distribution over the World Wide Web
of material that is harmful to minors, parents, edu-
cators, and industry must continue efforts to protect
children from dangers posed by the Internet.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO RESTRICT ACCESS BY MINORS TO
MATERIALS SOLD BY MEANS OF THE WORLD
WIDE WEB THAT ARE HARMFUL TO MINORS.
Part I of title II of the Communications Act of 1934
(47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 231. RESTRICTION OF ACCESS BY MINORS TO MATE-
RIALS SOLD BY MEANS OF WORLD WIDE WEB
THAT ARE HARMFUL TO MINORS.
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT TO RESTRICT ACCESS.—
‘‘(1) PROHIBITED CONDUCT.—Whoever, in inter-
state or foreign commerce, by means of the World
Wide Web, knowingly makes any communication for
commercial purposes that includes any material that
is harmful to minors, without restricting access to
such material by minors pursuant to subsection (c),
shall be fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned not
more than 6 months, or both.
‘‘(2) INTENTIONAL VIOLATIONS.—In addition to
the penalties under paragraph (1), whoever inten-
tionally violates such paragraph shall be subject 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.
‘‘(3) CIVIL PENALTY.—In addition to the pen-
alties under paragraphs (1) and (2), whoever violates
paragraph (1) shall be subject to a civil penalty of
not more than $50,000 for each violation. For pur-
poses of this paragraph, each day of violation shall
constitute a separate violation.
‘‘(b) INAPPLICABILITY
OF CARRIERS
AND OTHER
SERVICE PROVIDERS.—For purposes of subsection (a), a
person shall not be considered to make any communication
for commercial purposes to the extent that such person is—
‘‘(1) a telecommunications carrier engaged in the
provision of a telecommunications service;
‘‘(2) a person engaged in the business of provid-
ing an Internet access service;
‘‘(3) a person engaged in the business of provid-
ing an Internet information location tool; or
‘‘(4) similarly engaged in the transmission, stor-
age, retrieval, hosting, formatting, or translation (or
any combination thereof) of a communication made
by another person, without selection or alteration of
the content of the communication, except that such
person’s deletion of a particular communication or
material made by another person in a manner con-
sistent with subsection (c) or section 230 shall not
constitute such selection or alteration of the content of
the communication.
‘‘(c) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—
‘‘(1) DEFENSE.—It is an affirmative defense to
prosecution under this section that the defendant, in
good faith, has restricted access by minors to material
that is harmful to minors—
‘‘(A) by requiring use of a credit card, debit
account, adult access code, or adult personal
identification number; or
‘‘(B) by any other reasonable measures that
are feasible under available technology.
‘‘(2) PROTECTION FOR USE OF DEFENSES.—No
cause of action may be brought in any court or ad-
ministrative agency against any person on account of
any activity that is not in violation of any law pun-
ishable by criminal or civil penalty, and that the per-
son has taken in good faith to implement a defense
authorized under this subsection or otherwise to re-
strict or prevent the transmission of, or access to, a
communication specified in this section.
‘‘(d) PRIVACY PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(1) DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION LIMITED.—A
person making a communication described in sub-
section (a)—
‘‘(A) shall not disclose any information col-
lected for the purposes of restricting access to
such communications to individuals 17 years of
age or older without the prior written or elec-
tronic consent of—
‘‘(i) the individual concerned, if the in-
dividual is an adult; or
‘‘(ii) the individual’s parent or guard-
ian, if the individual is under 17 years of
age; and
‘‘(B) shall take such actions as are nec-
essary to prevent unauthorized access to such in-
formation by a person other than the person
making such communication and the recipient of
such communication.
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—A person making a commu-
nication described in subsection (a) may disclose such
information if the disclosure is—
‘‘(A) necessary to make the communication
or conduct a legitimate business activity related
to making the communication; or
‘‘(B) made pursuant to a court order au-
thorizing such disclosure.
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this subsection,
the following definitions shall apply:
‘‘(1) BY MEANS OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB.—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 accessible, over the Inter-
net, using hypertext transfer protocol or any successor
protocol.
‘‘(2) COMMERCIAL PURPOSES; ENGAGED IN THE
BUSINESS.—
‘‘(A) COMMERCIAL
PURPOSES.—A person
shall be considered to make a communication for
commercial purposes only if such person is en-
gaged in the business of making such commu-
nications.
‘‘(B) ENGAGED
IN
THE
BUSINESS.—The
term ‘engaged in the business’ means that the
person who makes a communication, or offers to
make a communication, by means of the World
Wide Web, that includes any material that is
harmful to minors, devotes time, attention, or
labor to such activities, as a regular course of
such person’s trade or business, with the objective
of earning a profit as a result of such activities
(although it is not necessary that the person
make a profit or that the making or offering to
make such communications be the person’s sole
or principal business or source of income). A
person may be considered to be engaged in the
business of making, by means of the World Wide
Web, communications for commercial purposes
that include material that is harmful to minors,
only if the person knowingly causes the material
that is harmful to minors to be posted on the
World Wide Web or knowingly solicits such ma-
terial to be posted on the World Wide Web.
‘‘(3) INTERNET.—The term ‘Internet’ means the
combination of computer facilities and electro-
magnetic transmission media, and related equipment
and software, comprising the interconnected world-
wide network of computer networks that employ the
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or
any successor protocol to transmit information.
‘‘(4) INTERNET
ACCESS
SERVICE.—The term
‘Internet access service’ means a service that enables
users to access content, information, electronic mail,
or other services offered over the Internet, and may
also include access to proprietary content, informa-
tion, and other services as part of a package of serv-
ices offered to consumers. Such term does not include
telecommunications services.
‘‘(5) INTERNET INFORMATION LOCATION TOOL.—
The term ‘Internet information location tool’ means a
service that refers or links users to an online location
on the World Wide Web. Such term includes direc-
tories, indices, references, pointers, and hypertext
links.
‘‘(6) MATERIAL THAT IS HARMFUL TO MINORS.—
The term ‘material that is harmful to minors’ means
any communication, picture, image, graphic image
file, article, recording, writing, or other matter of any
kind that—
‘‘(A) the average person, applying contem-
porary community standards, would find, taking
the material as a whole and with respect to mi-
nors, that such material is designed to appeal to
or panders to the prurient interest;
‘‘(B) depicts, describes, or represents, in a
manner patently offensive with respect to mi-
nors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual
contact, an actual or simulated normal or per-
verted sexual act, or a lewd exhibition of the
genitals or female breast; and
‘‘(C) taken as a whole, lacks serious lit-
erary, artistic, political, or scientific value for
minors.
‘‘(7) MINOR.—The term ‘minor’ means any per-
son under 17 years of age.’’.
SEC. 4. NOTICE REQUIREMENT.
(a) NOTICE.—Section 230 of the Communications Act
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as
subsections (e) and (f), respectively;
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following
new subsection:
‘‘(d) OBLIGATIONS OF INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERV-
ICE.—A provider of interactive computer service shall, at
the time of entering an agreement with a customer for the
provision of interactive computer service and in a manner
deemed appropriate by the provider, notify such customer
that parental control protections (such as computer hard-
ware, software, or filtering services) are commercially avail-
able that may assist the customer in limiting access to ma-
terial that is harmful to minors. Such notice shall identify,
or provide the customer with access to information identify-
ing, current providers of such protections.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 223(h)(2) of
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223(h)(2)) is
amended by striking ‘‘230(e)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘230(f)(2)’’.
SEC. 5. STUDY BY COMMISSION ON ONLINE CHILD PROTEC-
TION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established a
temporary Commission to be known as the Commission on
Online Child Protection (in this section referred to as the
‘‘Commission’’) for the purpose of conducting a study under
this section regarding methods to help reduce access by mi-
nors to material that is harmful to minors on the Internet.
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall be com-
posed of 17 members, as follows:
(1) INDUSTRY MEMBERS.—The Commission shall
include—
(A) 2 members who are engaged in the busi-
ness of providing Internet filtering or blocking
services or software;
(B) 2 members who are engaged in the busi-
ness of providing Internet access services;
(C) 2 members who are engaged in the busi-
ness of providing labeling or ratings services;
(D) 2 members who are engaged in the busi-
ness of providing Internet portal or search serv-
ices;
(E) 2 members who are engaged in the busi-
ness of providing domain name registration serv-
ices; and
(F) 4 members who are engaged in the busi-
ness of making content available over the Inter-
net.
Of the members of the Commission by reason of each
subparagraph of this paragraph, an equal number
shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and by the Majority Leader of the
Senate.
(2) EX
OFFICIO
MEMBERS.—The Commission
shall include the following officials:
(A) The Assistant Secretary (or the Assist-
ant Secretary’s designee).
(B) The Attorney General (or the Attorney
General’s designee).
(C) The Chairman of the Federal Trade
Commission (or the Chairman’s designee).
(c) STUDY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The duty of the Commission
shall be to conduct a study (and submit a report
under subsection (d) on the study) to identify techno-
logical or other methods, if any, to help reduce access
by minors to material that is harmful to minors on
the Internet that—
(A) the Commission determines meet the re-
quirements for use as affirmative defenses for
purposes of section 231(c) of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (as added by this Act); or
(B) may be used in any other manner to
help reduce such access.
Any methods so identified shall be used as the basis
for making legislative recommendations to the Con-
gress under subsection (d)(3).
(2) SPECIFIC
METHODS.—In carrying out the
study, the Commission shall identify and analyze
various technological tools and methods for protecting
minors from material that is harmful to minors,
which shall include—
(A) a common resource for parents to use to
help protect minors (such as a ‘‘one-click-away’’
resource);
(B) filtering or blocking software or serv-
ices;
(C) labeling or rating systems;
(D) age verification systems;
(E) the establishment of a domain name for
posting of any material that is harmful to mi-
nors; and
(F) any other existing or proposed tech-
nologies or methods for reducing access by mi-
nors to such material.
(3) ANALYSIS.—In analyzing technologies and
other methods identified pursuant to paragraph (2),
the Commission shall examine—
(A) the cost of such technologies and meth-
ods;
(B) the effects of such technologies and
methods on law enforcement entities;
(C) the effects of such technologies and
methods on privacy;
(D) the extent to which material that is
harmful to minors is globally distributed and the
effect of such technologies and methods on such
distribution; and
(E) the accessibility of such technologies and
methods to parents.
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the enact-
ment of this Act, the Commission shall submit a report to
the Congress containing the results of the study under this
section, which shall include—
(1) a description of the technologies and methods
identified by the study and the results of the analysis
of each such technology and method;
(2) the conclusions and recommendations of the
Commission regarding each such technology or meth-
od;
(3) recommendations for legislative or adminis-
trative actions to implement the conclusions of the
committee; and
(4) a description of the technologies or methods
identified by the study that may be used as affirma-
tive defenses for purposes of section 231(c) of the Com-
munications Act of 1934 (as added by this Act).
(e) STAFF AND RESOURCES.—The Assistant Secretary
for Communication and Information of the Department of
Commerce shall provide to the Commission such staff and
resources as the Assistant Secretary determines necessary
Union Calendar No. 441
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3783
[Report No. 105–775]
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.
OCTOBER 5, 1998
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commit-
tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
ordered to be printed