[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5319 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5319

   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require recipients of 
 universal service support for schools and libraries to protect minors 
       from commercial social networking websites and chat rooms.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 9, 2006

Mr. Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Mrs. Miller of 
Michigan, Mr. Weldon of Pennsylvania, Mr. English of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Davis of Kentucky, and Mr. Castle) introduced the following bill; which 
          was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require recipients of 
 universal service support for schools and libraries to protect minors 
       from commercial social networking websites and chat rooms.

    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 ``Deleting Online Predators Act of 
2006''.

SEC. 2. CERTIFICATIONS TO INCLUDE PROTECTIONS AGAINST COMMERCIAL SOCIAL 
              NETWORKING WEBSITES AND CHAT ROOMS.

    (a) Certification by Schools.--Section 254(h)(5)(B) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)(5)(B)) is amended by 
striking clause (i) and inserting the following:
                            ``(i) is enforcing a policy of Internet 
                        safety for minors that includes monitoring the 
                        online activities of minors and the operation 
                        of a technology protection measure with respect 
                        to any of its computers with Internet access 
                        that--
                                    ``(I) protects against access 
                                through such computers to visual 
                                depictions that are--
                                            ``(aa) obscene;
                                            ``(bb) child pornography; 
                                        or
                                            ``(cc) harmful to minors; 
                                        and
                                    ``(II) prohibits access to a 
                                commercial social networking website or 
                                chat room through which minors--
                                            ``(aa) may easily access or 
                                        be presented with obscene or 
                                        indecent material;
                                            ``(bb) may easily be 
                                        subject to unlawful sexual 
                                        advances, unlawful requests for 
                                        sexual favors, or repeated 
                                        offensive comments of a sexual 
                                        nature from adults; or
                                            ``(cc) may easily access 
                                        other material that is harmful 
                                        to minors; and''.
    (b) Certification by Libraries.--Section 254(h)(6)(B) of such Act 
(47 U.S.C. 254(h)(6)(B)) is amended by striking clause (i) and 
inserting the following:
                            ``(i) is enforcing a policy of Internet 
                        safety that includes the operation of a 
                        technology protection measure with respect to 
                        any of its computers with Internet access 
                        that--
                                    ``(I) protects against access 
                                through such computers to visual 
                                depictions that are--
                                            ``(aa) obscene;
                                            ``(bb) child pornography; 
                                        or
                                            ``(cc) harmful to minors; 
                                        and
                                    ``(II) prohibits access by minors 
                                without parental authorization to a 
                                commercial social networking website or 
                                chat room through which minors--
                                            ``(aa) may easily access or 
                                        be presented with obscene or 
                                        indecent material;
                                            ``(bb) may easily be 
                                        subject to unlawful sexual 
                                        advances, unlawful requests for 
                                        sexual favors, or repeated 
                                        offensive comments of a sexual 
                                        nature from adults; or
                                            ``(cc) may easily access 
                                        other material that is harmful 
                                        to minors; and''.
    (c) Definitions.--Section 254(h)(7) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subparagraphs:
                    ``(J) Commercial social networking websites.--The 
                term `commercial social networking website' means a 
                commercially operated Internet website that--
                            ``(i) allows users to create web pages or 
                        profiles that provide information about 
                        themselves and are available to other users; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) offers a mechanism for communication 
                        with other users, such as a forum, chat room, 
                        email, or instant messenger.
                    ``(K) Chat rooms.--The term `chat rooms' means 
                Internet websites through which a number of users can 
                communicate in real time via text and that allow 
                messages to be almost immediately visible to all other 
                users or to a designated segment of all other users.''.
    (d) Disabling During Adult or Educational Use.--Section 
254(h)(5)(D) of such Act is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``or educational'' after ``during adult'' 
        in the heading; and
            (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 
        following: ``or during use by an adult or by minors with adult 
        supervision to enable access for educational purposes'' .
    (e) Establishment of Advisory Board.--The Federal Communications 
Commission shall establish an advisory board, which shall consist of 8 
members appointed by the Chairman of the Commission. Four of such 
members shall be representative of the private sector and four of such 
members shall be representative of the Commission, the National Center 
for Missing and Exploited Children, the Crimes against Children 
Research Center, school boards, and primary and secondary school 
educators, respectively. The Commission shall provide administrative 
and clerical support to the advisory board, but members of the board 
shall serve without compensation. The advisory board shall be 
terminated at the direction of the Chairman of the Commission.
    (f) Publication.--After consultation with the advisory board 
established under subsection (e) and appropriate agencies with 
experience regarding procedures and actions to prevent minors from 
being target by adults for predatory behavior, exploitation, or illegal 
actions, the Federal Communications Commission shall annually publish a 
list of commercial social networking websites and chat rooms that have 
been shown to allow sexual predators easy access to personal 
information of, and contact with, children.

SEC. 3. FTC CONSUMER ALERT ON INTERNET DANGERS TO CHILDREN.

    (a) Information Regarding Child Predators and the Internet.--Not 
later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal 
Trade Commission shall--
            (1) issue a consumer alert regarding the potential dangers 
        to children of Internet child predators, including the 
        potential danger of commercial social networking websites and 
        chat rooms through which personal information about child users 
        of such websites may be accessed by child predators; and
            (2) establish a website with a distinctive Uniform Resource 
        Locator to serve as a resource for information for parents, 
        teachers and school administrators, and others regarding the 
        potential dangers posed by the use of the Internet by children, 
        including information about commercial social networking 
        websites and chat rooms through which personal information 
        about child users of such websites may be accessed by child 
        predators.
    (b) Commercial Social Networking Websites.--For purposes of the 
requirements under subsection (a), the terms ``commercial social 
networking website'' and ``chat room'' have the meanings given such 
terms in section 254(h)(7) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
254(h)(7)), as amended by this Act.
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