Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 11 - CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE (§§ 11-1-1 — 11-77-7) › Chapter 77 - CIVIL LIABILITY FOR DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS ON THE INTERNET ABSENT AGE VERIFICATION (§§ 11-77-1 — 11-77-7) › Section 11-77-3 - Definitions

The following words shall have the meanings described herein:
(a)
"Commercial entity" includes corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, limited partnerships, sole proprietorships, or other legally recognized entities.
(b)
"Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means.
(c)
"Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks.
(d)
"Material harmful to minors" is defined as all of the following:
(i)
Any material that the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest.
(ii)
Any of the following material that exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction of any of the following, in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors:
1.
Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast.
2.
Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals.
3.
Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act.
(iii)
The material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
(e)
"Minor" means any person under the age of eighteen (18) years.
(f)
"News-gathering organization" means any of the following:
(i)
An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of current news and public interest, while operating as an employee as provided in this subparagraph, who can provide documentation of such employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source.
(ii)
An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire service while operating as an employee as provided in this subparagraph, who can provide documentation of such employment.
(g)
"Publish" means to communicate or make information available to another person or entity on a publicly available internet website.
(h)
"Reasonable age verification methods" include verifying that the person seeking to access the material is eighteen (18) years of age or older by using any of the following methods:
(i)
Provide a digitized identification card;
(ii)
Require the person attempting to access the material to comply with a commercial age verification system that verifies in one or more of the following ways:
1.
Government-issued identification; or
2.
Any commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of the person attempting to access the information is at least eighteen (18) years of age or older.
(i)
"Substantial portion" means more than thirty-three and one-third (33-1/3) percent of total material on a website, which meets the definition of "material harmful to minors" as defined by this section.
(j)
"Transactional data" means a sequence of information that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer between an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for the purpose of satisfying a request or event. Transactional data can include, but is not limited to, records from mortgage, education, and employment entities.
Added by Laws, 2023, ch. 513, SB 2346,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2023.