[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 504 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 504

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 20, 1997

Mrs. Feinstein (for herself, Mrs. Boxer, and Ms. Snowe) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and 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 1997''.

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) Prohibition.--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 
                knowing that such information pertains to a child 
                without the consent of a parent of that child;
                    ``(B) conditions any sale or service to a child or 
                to that child's parent on the granting of such a 
                consent; or
                    ``(C) fails to comply with the request of a 
                parent--
                            ``(i) to disclose the source of personal 
                        information about that parent's child;
                            ``(ii) to disclose all information that has 
                        been sold or otherwise disclosed by that list 
                        broker about that child; or
                            ``(iii) to disclose the identity of all 
                        persons to whom the list broker has sold or 
                        otherwise disclosed personal information about 
                        that child;
            ``(2) 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 to the parent the source of 
                personal information about that parent's child;
                    ``(B) to disclose all information that has been 
                sold or otherwise disclosed by that person about that 
                child; or
                    ``(C) to disclose the identity of all persons to 
                whom such a person has sold or otherwise disclosed 
                personal information about that child;
            ``(3) 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
            ``(4) 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, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or 
both.
    ``(b) Civil Actions.--A child or the parent of that child with 
respect to whom a violation of this section occurs may in a civil 
action obtain appropriate relief, including monetary 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) Limitation.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
affect the sale of lists to--
            ``(1) any Federal, State, or local government agency or law 
        enforcement organization;
            ``(2) the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
        Children; or
            ``(3) any institution of higher education (as that term is 
        defined in section 1201(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
        (20 U.S.C. 1141(a)).
    ``(d) Definitions.--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, and physical description) about an individual 
        identified as a child, that would suffice to physically 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 analysis for chapter 89 of title 18, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

``1822. Sale of personal information about children.''.
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