[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2472 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2472

 To protect children from unsolicited e-mail smut containing sexually 
              oriented advertisements offensive to minors.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 11, 2001

 Ms. Lofgren introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and 
Commerce, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To protect children from unsolicited e-mail smut containing sexually 
              oriented advertisements offensive to minors.

    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 ``Protect Children From E-Mail Smut 
Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND POLICY.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Congress recognized that the Nation had a compelling 
        interest in preventing minors from being exposed to mailings 
        containing sexually oriented advertisements when it enacted 
        title 39, United States Code, section 3010, and title 18, 
        United States Code, sections 1735 and 1737.
            (2) Congress required anyone sending a mailing containing 
        sexually oriented advertisements to place a mark or notice 
        prescribed by the Postal Service on the mailing envelope or 
        cover.
            (3) E-mails may contain the same kind of sexually oriented 
        advertisements harmful to minors but there is presently no 
        comparable requirement that e-mails contain any marking or 
        notice to alert the recipient that the e-mail contains sexually 
        oriented advertisements.
            (4) Requiring a marking or notice that an e-mail contains 
        sexually oriented advertisements will enable the parents of 
        minors to take the necessary steps to block such material and 
        thus protect their children from being exposed to such sexually 
        oriented advertisements.
            (5) The National Institute of Standards and Technology 
        (hereinafter in this Act referred to as NIST), a nonregulatory 
        agency within the Commerce Department's Technology 
        Administration, is technologically competent to prescribe marks 
        or other signifiers that an e-mail contains sexually oriented 
        advertisements.
    (b) Congressional Determination of Public Policy.--On the basis of 
the findings in subsection (a), the Congress determines that--
            (1) there is substantial government interest in the 
        regulation of unsolicited e-mails containing sexually oriented 
        advertisements that are forwarded to children; and
            (2) the best method to regulate such unsolicited e-mails is 
        to enable the children or parents acting on behalf of the 
        children to screen or block such unsolicited e-mails using 
        marks or signifiers prescribed by the NIST.

SEC. 3. CRIMINAL PROHIBITION AGAINST SENDING SEXUALLY ORIENTED MATERIAL 
              TO CHILDREN WITHOUT THE PRESCRIBED MARKINGS OR NOTICE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the NIST shall prescribe marks or notices to be 
included or affixed to any e-mail that contains a sexually oriented 
advertisement forwarded to children. Such marks shall, to the extent 
possible, be made so that they may not be removed or altered.
    (b) Punishment.--Whoever willfully and knowingly forwards to a 
minor an e-mail, that is carried on an instrumentality in or affecting 
interstate or foreign commerce, that includes sexually oriented 
advertisements but does not include the mark or notice as prescribed by 
the NIST in subsection (a) of this section shall be fined under this 
Act or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.
    (c) Punishment.--Whoever reproduces or manufactures any sexually 
related mail matter, intending or knowing that such matter will be 
forwarded to a minor in an e-mail in violation of subsection (b) of 
this section, shall be fined under this Act or imprisoned not more than 
5 years, or both, for the first offense, and shall be fined under this 
Act or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both, for any second, or 
subsequent offense. As used in this section the term ``sexually related 
mail matter'' means any matter described in subsection (d) of this 
section.
    (d) Definition.--The term ``sexually oriented advertisement'' means 
any advertisement that depicts, in actual or simulated form, or 
explicitly describes, in a predominantly sexual context, human 
genitalia, any act of natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act 
of sadism or masochism, or any other erotic subject directly related to 
the foregoing. Material otherwise within the definition of this 
subsection shall be deemed not to constitute a sexually oriented 
advertisement if it constitutes only a small and insignificant part of 
the whole, the remainder of which is not primarily devoted to sexual 
matters.

SEC. 4. CIVIL RELIEF: DAMAGES.

    (a) In General.--Any parent of a minor may sue and recover damages 
and attorney's fees and court costs from whomever violates any 
provision of this Act. In lieu of actual damages, the parent may 
recover $10,000 for each and every violation.
    (b) Limitation.--The parent shall not have a cause of action 
against the electronic mail service provider for merely transmitting 
the offending e-mail.
    (c) Confidential Procedure.--At the request of any party to an 
action brought pursuant to this section, the court may, in its 
discretion, conduct all legal proceedings in such a way as to protect 
the secrecy and security of the computer, computer network, computer 
data, computer program, and computer software involved in order to 
prevent possible recurrence of the same or a similar act by another 
person and to protect any trade secrets of any party.
    (d) Effect on Additional Remedies.--This section does not limit any 
parent's right to pursue any additional civil remedy otherwise allowed 
at law or equity.
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