[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3224 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3224

   To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide protection from 
              personal intrusion for commercial purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 1998

  Mr. Gallegly (for himself, Mr. Coble, Mr. Berman, and Mr. Smith of 
    Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide protection from 
              personal intrusion for commercial 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 ``Privacy Protection Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION FROM PERSONAL INTRUSION FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 89 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1822. Harassment
    ``(a) Whoever persistently follows or chases any individual in the 
United States for the purpose of obtaining a visual image, sound 
recording, or other physical impression of that or another individual, 
shall be punished as provided in subsection (b), if--
            ``(1) the image, recording, or impression was intended to 
        be, or was in fact, sold, published, or transmitted in 
        interstate or foreign commerce, or the person attempted to 
        capture such image, recording, or impression moved in 
        interstate of foreign commerce in order to capture such image, 
        recording, or impression.
            ``(2) the individual has a reasonable expectation of 
        privacy from such intrusions and has taken reasonable steps to 
        ensure that privacy;
            ``(3) the individual has a reasonable fear that death or 
        bodily injury will result from that following or chasing; and
            ``(4) the obtaining of the image, recording, or other 
        impression is for commercial purposes.
    ``(b) The punishment for an offense under this section is--
            ``(1) if death is caused by the offense, the punishment 
        provided under section 1111 or 1112 for a like offense under 
        that section;
            ``(2) if serious bodily injury is caused by the offense, 
        the punishment provided in section 113 for a like offense under 
        that section; and
            ``(3) in any other case, a fine under this title or 
        imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both.
    ``(c)(1) A person who is subjected to a violation of subsection (a) 
may, in a civil action against the person engaging in that violation, 
obtain any appropriate relief.
    ``(2) In any civil action under this section, the court shall allow 
the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee and other reasonable 
litigation costs as part of the costs.
    ``(d) It is not a defense to a prosecution or civil action under 
this section that--
            ``(1) no image or recording was captured; or
            ``(2) no image or recording was sold.
    ``(e) Nothing in this section may be construed to make the sale, 
transmission, publication, broadcast, or use of any visual image, sound 
recording, or other physical impression in any otherwise lawful manner 
by any person subject to criminal charge or civil liability.
    ``(f) Only a person physically present at the time of, and engaging 
or assisting another in engaging in, the following or chasing that 
constitutes a violation of this section is subject to a Federal 
criminal charge or civil liability under this section, or section 2, 3, 
4, or 371 of this title, based on a violation of this section. A person 
shall not be subject to such charge or liability by reason of the 
conduct of an agent, employee, or contractor of that person or because 
any visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression 
captured in violation of this section was solicited, bought, used, or 
sold by that person.
    ``(g) The prohibitions of this section do not apply with respect to 
official law enforcement activities.
    ``(h) Nothing in this section shall be taken to preempt any right 
or remedy otherwise available under Federal, State, or local law.
    ``(i) As used in this section--
            ``(1) the term `for commercial purposes' means with the 
        expectation of financial gain or other consideration from the 
        sale or other transfer of the visual image, sound recording, or 
        other physical impression; and
            ``(2) the term `State' includes the District of Columbia 
        and each other commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 
        United States.''.
    (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. Harassment.''.
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