[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 86 (Thursday, June 19, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1267-E1268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF THE CHILDREN'S PRIVACY PROTECTION AND PARENTAL 
                            EMPOWERMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FRANKS

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 19, 1997

  Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, today I am reintroducing the 
Children's Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act. As the 
information age continues to unfold, Congress has an obligation to 
monitor the new technology and make sure that reasonable safeguards are 
in place to protect the most vulnerable among us--our children.
  The safety and privacy of our children is already being threatened by 
one product of the information explosion. This threat to our children's 
safety was first brought to my attention by Marc Klaas. Since his 
daughter's brutal death 2 years ago, Marc has been on a crusade to 
protect children.
  Every time parents sign their children up for a birthday club at a 
local fast food restaurant or ice cream store, fill out a warranty card 
for a new toy, complete a consumer survey at the local supermarket, 
enter their children in a school directory, or lets their child fill 
out information on the Internet, they could be putting their children 
at risk.
  The fact is that these businesses often turn around and sell that 
information about children to individuals, companies, and organizations 
who want to contact children. Currently parents have no way of knowing 
that the sale of information about their kids is taking place and are 
powerless to stop it if they disapprove.
  List vendors today sell this information to whoever wants to purchase 
it. Anyone with a mailing address can contact a list vendor and order a 
specific list. It might be the names, addresses and phone numbers of 
all children living in a particular neighborhood--or a much more 
detailed list, such as all 10-year-old boys in a suburban community who 
have video game systems. And the cost of this information is relatively 
inexpensive, just a few cents a name.
  Although parents have no idea how advertisers or telemarketers have 
gathered information about their children, it's important for them to 
understand that there is a danger of this information winding up in the 
wrong hands.
  Worse, often the list brokers themselves don't know to whom they're 
selling data about children.
  The threat to our children is very real and very frightening.
  Last May, I introduced the Children's Privacy Protection and Parental 
Empowerment Act. Specifically, it would prohibit the sale of personal 
information about a child without the parent's consent.
  In addition, the legislation would give parents the right to compel 
list brokers to release

[[Page E1268]]

to them all the information they have compiled about their child. List 
vendors would also have to turn over to the parents the name of anyone 
to whom they have distributed personal information about their child.
  The bill also forces list vendors to be more diligent about verifying 
the identity of companies and individuals seeking to buy lists of 
children. Specifically, it would be a criminal offense for a list 
vendor to provide personal information about children to anyone it has 
reason to believe would use that information to harm a child.
  This provision also addresses a shocking practice recently uncovered 
at a Minnesota prison. A prisoner, who was serving time for molesting a 
child, was compiling a detailed list of children--including not only 
their names, ages and addresses but such personal information as 
``latchkey child,'' ``cute'' or ``pudgy.'' Authorities believe he was 
planning to sell the list to pedophiles over the Internet.
  The bill also requires list brokers to match their data against the 
list of missing children held by the National Center for Missing and 
Exploited Children. This provision should help the center fulfill its 
important mission of finding children who have been kidnaped or 
exploited.
  Finally, there is a provision in the bill to address yet another 
alarming practice going on in prison. A commercial list company had a 
contract with a Texas prison for data entry services. Prisoners--
including child molesters and pedophiles--were being handed personal 
information about children to enter into a computer data base. Although 
that company no longer uses prison labor, our bill would make it 
unlawful to engage in this dangerous practice.
  Prisoners and convicted sex offenders would never again have access 
to personal information about children.
  The bill has the support a broad cross-section of organizations who 
are dedicated to protecting children including the PTA, privacy groups, 
and family groups.
  Last September, the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary 
Committee held a hearing on the bill. It's enactment this year is one 
of my top priorities for this Congress.
  Parents are rightfully concerned about the unrestricted sale of their 
children's data. When parents in my district learn about what happens 
to data they provide about their children, they are shocked and 
outraged. The latest Harris/Westin survey showed that 97 percent of 
people believe it is unacceptable to rent or sell names and addresses 
of children provided when purchasing products or registering to use a 
website. Moreover, at the recent FTC hearing on online privacy, the 
Direct Marketing Association and many industry leaders stated that 
parental notice and consent should be the standard in collecting and 
selling children's data in the online world. This should also be the 
standard in the offline world.
  In today's high-tech information age--when access to information on 
our personal lives is just a keystroke or phone call away--our children 
need the special protection this legislation provides.

                          ____________________