[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3783 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3783

   To amend section 223 of the Communications Act of 1934 to require 
persons who are engaged in the business of selling or transferring, by 
  means of the World Wide Web, material that is harmful to minors to 
  restrict access to such material by minors, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 30, 1998

  Mr. Oxley (for himself, Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Manton, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. 
 Deal of Georgia, Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Norwood, Mrs. Cubin, Mr. Burr of 
North Carolina, and Mr. Upton) introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend section 223 of the Communications Act of 1934 to require 
persons who are engaged in the business of selling or transferring, by 
  means of the World Wide Web, material that is harmful to minors to 
  restrict access to such material by minors, 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 ``Child Online Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) as access to and use of the World Wide Web becomes 
        ubiquitous, the Web and information transmitted over it may 
        become more invasive and intrusive in individual and family 
        lives;
            (2) children now have greater opportunities for access to 
        the World Wide Web and such access is continually expanding;
            (3) while custody, care, and nurture of the child reside 
        first with the parent, the widespread availability of computers 
        presents opportunities for minors to access materials through 
        the World Wide Web in a manner that can frustrate parental 
        supervision or control;
            (4) the protection of the physical and psychological well-
        being of minors by shielding them from materials that are 
        harmful to them is a compelling governmental interest; and
            (5) the Federal Government has a compelling interest in 
        ensuring that minors are restricted in their access to 
        materials sold or transferred by means of the World Wide Web 
        that are harmful to minors.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO RESTRICT ACCESS BY MINORS TO MATERIALS SOLD OR 
              TRANSFERRED BY MEANS OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB THAT ARE 
              HARMFUL TO MINORS.

    (a) Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--Section 223 of the Communications Act of 
        1934 (47 U.S.C. 223) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), and 
                (h) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i), 
                respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after subsection (d) the following 
                new subsection (e):
    ``(e)(1) Whoever in interstate or foreign commerce is engaged in 
the business of selling or transferring, by means of the World Wide 
Web, material that is harmful to minors shall restrict access to such 
material by persons under 17 years of age.
    ``(2) Any person who violates paragraph (1) shall be fined not more 
than $50,000, imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
    ``(3) In addition to the penalties under paragraph (2), whoever 
intentionally violates paragraph (1) shall be subject to a fine of not 
more than $50,000 for each violation. For purposes of this paragraph, 
each day of violation shall constitute a separate violation.
    ``(4) In addition to the penalties under paragraphs (2) and (3), 
whoever violates paragraph (1) shall be subject to a civil fine of not 
more than $50,000 for each violation. For purposes of this paragraph, 
each day of violation shall constitute a separate violation.
    ``(5) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this 
subsection that the defendant restricted access to material that is 
harmful to minors by persons under 17 years of age by requiring use of 
a verified credit card, debit account, adult access code, or adult 
personal identification number or in accordance with such other 
procedures as the Commission may prescribe.
    ``(6) This subsection may not be construed to authorize the 
Commission to regulate in any manner the content of any information 
provided by means of the World Wide Web.
    ``(7) For purposes of this subsection:
            ``(A) The term `by means of the World Wide Web' means by 
        placement of material in a computer server-based file archive 
        so that it is publicly accessible, over the Internet, using 
        hypertext transfer protocol, file transfer protocol, or other 
        similar protocols.
            ``(B) The term `engaged in the business' means that the 
        person who sells or transfers or offers to sell or transfer, by 
        means of the World Wide Web, material that is harmful to minors 
        devotes time, attention, or labor to such activities, as a 
        regular course of trade or business, with the objective of 
        earning a profit, although it is not necessary that the person 
        make a profit or that the selling or transferring or offering 
        to sell or transfer such material be the person's sole or 
        principal business or source of income.
            ``(C) The term `Internet' means the combination of computer 
        facilities and electromagnetic transmission media, and related 
        equipment and software, comprising the interconnected worldwide 
        network of computer networks that employ the Transmission 
        Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or any predecessor or 
        successor protocol to transmit information.
            ``(D) The term `material that is harmful to minors' means 
        any communication, picture, image, graphic image file, article, 
        recording, writing, or other matter of any kind that--
                    ``(i) taken as a whole and with respect to minors, 
                appeals to a prurient interest in nudity, sex, or 
                excretion;
                    ``(ii) depicts, describes, or represents, in a 
                patently offensive way with respect to what is suitable 
                for minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual 
                contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual 
                acts, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals; and
                    ``(iii) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, 
                artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
            ``(E) The terms `sexual act' and `sexual contact' have the 
        meanings given such terms in section 2246 of title 18, United 
        States Code.''.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Subsection (g) of such section, 
        as so redesignated, is amended by striking ``(e), or (f)'' and 
        inserting ``(f), or (g)''.
    (b) Availability on Internet of Definition of Material That Is 
Harmful to Minors.--The Federal Communications Commission shall post or 
otherwise make available on the World Wide Web site of the Commission 
such information as is necessary to inform the public of the meaning of 
the term ``material that is harmful to minors'' under section 223(e) of 
the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by subsection (a).
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