Children's Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1997

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Children's Privacy Protection and 
Parental Empowerment Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES RELATING TO PERSONAL 
              INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 89 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1822. Sale of personal information about children
    ``(a) Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, 
being a list broker, knowingly--
            ``(1) sells, purchases, or receives remuneration for 
        providing personal information about a child, knowing that such 
        information pertains to a child, without the written consent of 
        a parent of that child;
            ``(2) conditions any sale or service to a child or to that 
        child's parent on the granting of such a consent; or
            ``(3) fails to comply with the request of a parent--
                    ``(A) to disclose the source of personal 
                information offered for sale or remuneration by the 
                list broker about that parent's child;
                    ``(B) to disclose all information that has been 
                sold or otherwise disclosed by that list broker about 
                that child;
                    ``(C) to disclose the identity of all persons to 
                whom the list broker has sold or otherwise disclosed 
                personal information about that child; or
                    ``(D) to discontinue providing personal information 
                to third parties about that parent's child;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 1 year, 
or both.
    ``(b) Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, 
being a person who uses, in the course of commerce, any personal 
information about a child under age 16, that was obtained for 
commercial purposes, to contact 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--
            ``(1) to disclose the source of personal information about 
        that parent's child;
            ``(2) to disclose all information that has been sold or 
        otherwise disclosed by that list broker about that child;
            ``(3) to disclose the identity of all persons to whom 
        personal information about that child has been disclosed; or
            ``(4) to discontinue providing personal information to 
        third parties about that parent's child;
shall be fined not more than $5,000.
    ``(c) Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, 
knowingly--
            ``(1) 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 information about children; or
            ``(2) distributes or solicits any personal information 
        about a child, with the intent of abusing or causing physical 
        harm to the child or to sexually exploit the child, or having 
        reason to believe that the child will be so abused, harmed, or 
        exploited as a result of that distribution or solicitation;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or 
both.
    ``(d) Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, 
knowingly releases personal information about another person's child to 
any entity that intends to use the information to solicit the sale of a 
product or service, without the permission of that child's parent, 
shall be fined not more than $5,000.
    ``(e) A child or a parent of a child with respect to whom a 
violation of this section occurs may in a civil action obtain 
appropriate relief, including statutory money damages of not less than 
$5,000. 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.
    ``(f) Nothing in this section affects the sale of lists to--
            ``(1) the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
        Children;
            ``(2) accredited colleges, universities, and other 
        institutions of higher learning;
            ``(3) the United States military; or
            ``(4) local, State, or Federal law enforcement agencies.
    ``(g) It shall be the duty of each list broker operating in or 
affecting interstate or foreign commerce to make that broker's 
databases available twice annually, without charge, to the National 
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, established under section 
404(b) of the Missing Children's Assistance Act, in order to allow the 
Center to match it with the database of missing children held by the 
Center.
    ``(h) 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 guardian;
            ``(3) the term `personal information' means information 
        (including name, address, telephone number, social security 
        number, electronic mail address, and physical description) 
        about an individual identified as a child, that would suffice 
        to locate and contact that individual; and
            ``(4) the term `list broker' means a person who provides 
        for remuneration mailing lists, computerized or telephone 
        reference services, databases, or the like, containing personal 
        information about 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.''.

Summary: Children's Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit and set penalties for specified activities relating to personal information about a child (defined as a person under age 16), including knowingly:  (1) selling such information (by a list broker) without the written consent of a parent of that child, knowing that such information pertains to a child; (2) using prison inmate labor for data processing of personal information about children; and (3) distributing or soliciting any such information, knowing or having reason to believe that the information will be used to abuse or physically harm the child. 
Sets penalties for contacting that child or a parent of that child (by a person who uses personal information about a child that was obtained for commercial purposes) to offer a commercial product or service to that child and knowingly failing to comply with a parent's request to:  (1) disclose the source of such information, all information that has been sold or otherwise disclosed by that list broker about that child, and the identity of all persons to whom such information has been disclosed; or (2) discontinue providing such information to third parties. 
Sets penalties for knowingly releasing personal information about another person's child to any entity that intends to use the information to solicit the sale of a product or service, without the permission of that child's parent. 
Authorizes civil actions by a child or a parent with respect to whom a violation of this Act occurs.  Directs the court to award a prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs. 
Specifies that nothing in this Act affects the sale of lists to: (1) the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (the Center); (2) accredited colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning; (3) the U.S. military; or (4) local, State, or Federal law enforcement agencies. 
Declares that it shall be the duty of each list broker operating in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce to make that broker's databases available twice annually, without charge, to the Center to allow the Center to match it with the database of missing children held by the Center.