[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3089 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3089

  To amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to provide parents 
  with greater control of their children's access to online material.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 14, 1996

     Ms. Eshoo (for herself, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Farr of 
 California, Mr. Gejdenson, and Ms. Woolsey) introduced the following 
         bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to provide parents 
  with greater control of their children's access to online material.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Online Parental Control Act of 
1996''.

SEC. 2. SUBSTITUTION OF HARMFUL TO MINORS FOR INDECENCY STANDARD.

    (a) Direct Communications.--Section 223(a)(1)(B) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223(a)(1)(B)) is amended by 
striking ``indecent'' and inserting ``harmful to minors''.
    (b) Indirect Communications.--Section 223(d)(1) of such Act is 
amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) in interstate or foreign communications knowingly--
                    ``(A) uses an interactive computer service to send 
                to a specific person or persons under 18 years of age, 
                or
                    ``(B) uses any interactive computer service to 
                display in a manner available to a person under 18 
                years of age,
        any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other 
        communication that is harmful to minors, regardless of whether 
        the user of such service placed the call or initiated the 
        communication; or''.
    (c) Definition of Harmful to Minors.--Section 223(h) of such Act is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(6) Harmful to minors.--The term `harmful to minors' 
        means sexually explicit matter which meets all of the following 
        criteria:
                    ``(A) Considered as a whole, the matter appeals to 
                the prurient interest of minors.
                    ``(B) The matter is patently offensive as 
                determined by contemporary local community standards in 
                terms of what is suitable for minors.
                    ``(C) Considered as a whole, the matter lacks 
                serious literary, artistic, political, educational, or 
                scientific value for minors.''.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND SCREENING OF MATERIAL.

    (a) Protection From Federal Communications Indecency Law.--Section 
223(e)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223(e)(5)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' at the end of subparagraph (A);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (B) 
        and inserting a semicolon;
            (3) by adding at the end thereof the following new 
        subparagraphs:
                    ``(C) has, in good faith--
                            ``(i) labeled such communications as 
                        inappropriate for minors,
                            ``(ii) placed such communications in a 
                        segregated access site identified as 
                        inappropriate for minors, or
                            ``(iii) otherwise established a mechanism,
                and that labeling, segregation, or other mechanism 
                enables such communications to be automatically blocked 
                or screened by software or other capabilities 
                reasonably available to responsible adults wishing to 
                effect such blocking or screening, and has not 
                otherwise solicited minors not subject to such 
                screening or blocking capabilities to access the 
                communications or to circumvent any such screening or 
                blocking; or
                    ``(D) has, in good faith, installed or provided 
                some other device, system, or method that serves the 
                function of allowing adults to prevent access to such 
                communications by minors and that is as reasonable, 
                effective, and appropriate as a method described in 
                subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) in preventing such 
                access.''.
    (b) Protection From State Law.--Section 230(c) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)) is amended by adding at 
the end thereof the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Protection for making available parental control 
        technology..--No provider or user of an interactive computer 
        service, information content provider, or access software 
        provider shall be held civilly or criminally liable for making 
        available to a minor a communication that is indecent or 
        harmful to minors if such provider or user has taken an action 
        that qualifies as a defense under subparagraph (A), (B), (C), 
        or (D) of section 223(d).''.
                                 <all>