[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3508 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3508

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the sale of personal 
  information about children without their parents' consent, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 1996

Mr. Franks  of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Frost, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. 
 Ney, Mr. McHugh, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Fazio of California, Mr. Weldon of 
    Florida, and Mr. Horn) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the sale of personal 
  information about children without their parents' consent, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Children's Privacy Protection and 
Parental Empowerment Act of 1996''.

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--
            ``(1) being a list broker, knowingly--
                    ``(A) sells, purchases, or receives remuneration 
                for providing personal information about a child 
                without the written consent of a parent of that child, 
                or
                    ``(B) conditions any sale or service to a child or 
                to that child's parent on the granting of such a 
                consent;
            ``(2) being a list broker, knowingly fails to comply with 
        the request of a parent--
                    ``(A) to disclose the source of personal 
                information about that parent's child;
                    ``(B) to disclose all information that has been 
                sold by that list broker about that child and all other 
                information in the possession of that list broker, 
                except information which under common law, statute, or 
                the Constitution may not be disclosed; or
                    ``(C) to disclose the identity of all persons to 
                whom personal information about that child has been 
                disclosed;
            ``(3) being a person who, using any personal information 
        about a child in the course of commerce that was obtained for 
        commercial purposes, has directly contacted 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--
                    ``(A) to disclose the source of personal 
                information about that parent's child;
                    ``(B) to disclose all information that has been 
                sold by that person about that child and all other 
                information in the possession of that individual, 
                except information which under common law, statute, or 
                the Constitution may not be disclosed; or
                    ``(C) to disclose the identity of all persons to 
                whom personal information about that child has been 
                disclosed;
            ``(4) knowingly uses personal information about a child 
        that was collected from the child by the user for commercial 
        purposes in connection with a game, contest, or club, sponsored 
        by that user, to contact that child other than in direct 
        connection with that game, contest, or club, without the 
        permission of a parent of that child;
            ``(5) knowingly 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
            ``(6) knowingly distributes or receives any personal 
        information about a child, knowing or having reason to believe 
        that the information will be used to abuse the child or 
        physically to harm the child;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, 
or both.
    ``(b) 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 $1,000. 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.
    ``(c) 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, in the 
        course of business, provides mailing lists, computerized or 
        telephone reference services, or the like containing personal 
        information of 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.''.
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