Offered by Mr. Oxley of Ohio
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H.L.C. Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 3783
Offered by Mr. Oxley of Ohio |
TO H.R. 3783
OFFERED BY Mr. Oxley of Ohio
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Child Online Protection Act".
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(2) 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;
(3) to date, while the industry has developed innovative ways to help parents and educators restrict material that is harmful to minors through parental control protections and self-regulation, such efforts have not provided a national solution to the problem of minors accessing harmful material on the World Wide Web;
(4) a prohibition on the distribution of material harmful to minors, combined with legitimate defenses, is currently the most effective means by which to satisfy the compelling government interest; and
(5) notwithstanding the existence of protections that limit the distribution over the World Wide Web of material that is harmful to minors, parents, educators, and industry must continue efforts to protect children from dangers posed by the Internet.
TO MATERIALS SOLD BY MEANS OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB THAT ARE HARMFUL TO MINORS.
Part I of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
"SEC. 231. RESTRICTION OF ACCESS BY MINORS TO MATERIALS SOLD BY MEANS OF WORLD WIDE WEB THAT ARE HARMFUL TO MINORS.
"(2) INTENTIONAL VIOLATIONS.—In addition to the penalties under paragraph (1), whoever intentionally violates such paragraph 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.
"(3) CIVIL PENALTY.—In addition to the penalties under paragraphs (1) and (2), whoever violates paragraph (1) shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each violation. For purposes of this paragraph, each day of violation shall constitute a separate violation.
"(2) a person engaged in the business of providing an Internet access service;
"(3) a person engaged in the business of providing an Internet information location tool; or
"(4) similarly engaged in the transmission, storage retrieval, hosting, formatting, or translation (or any combination thereof) of a communication made by another person, without selection or alteration of the content of the communication, except that such a person's deletion of a particular communication or material made by another person in a manner consistent with subsection (c) or section 230 shall not constitute such selection or alteration of the content of the communication.
"(2) PROTECTION FOR USE OF DEFENSES.—No cause of action may be brought in any court or administrative agency against any person on account of any activity that is not in violation of any law punishable by criminal or civil penalty, and that the person has taken in good faith to implement a defense authorized under this subsection or otherwise to restrict or prevent the transmission of, or access to, a communication specified in this section.
"(ii)the individual's parent or guardian, if the individual is under 17 years of age; and
"(B) made pursuant to a court order authorizing such disclosure.
"(2) COMMERCIAL PURPOSES; ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS.—
"(B) ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS.—The term 'engaged in the business' means that the person who makes a communication, or offers to make a communication, by means of the World Wide Web, that includes any material that is harmful to minors devotes time, attention, or labor to such activities, as a regular course of such person's trade or business, with the objective of earning a profit as a result of such activities, although it is not necessary that the person make a profit or that the making or offering to make such communications be the person's sole or principal business or source of income. A person may be considered to be engaged in the business of making, by means of the World Wide Web, communications for commercial purposes that include material that is harmful to minors only if the person knowingly causes the material to be posted on the World Wide Web or knowingly solicits such material to be posted on the World Wide Web.
"(4) INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.—The term 'Internet access service' means a service that enables users to access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the Internet, and may also include access to proprietary content, information, and other services as part of a package of services offered to consumers. Such term does not include telecommunications services.
"(5) INTERNET INFORMATION LOCATION TOOL.—Term 'Internet information location tool' means a service that refers or links to an online location on the World Wide Web. Such term includes directories, indices, references, pointers, and hypertext links.
" (6) MATERIAL THAT IS HARMFUL TO MINORS.—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—
"(B) depicts, describes, or represents, in a manner patently offensive with respect to 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 or female breast; and
"(C) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new subsection:
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 223(h)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 223(h)(2)) is amended by striking "230(e)(2)" and inserting "230(f)(2)".
"(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall be composed of 17 members, as follows:
"(1) INDUSTRY MEMBERS.—The Commission shall include—
"(B) 2 members who are engaged in the business of providing Internet access services;
"(C) 2 members who are engaged in the business of providing labeling or rating services;
"(D) 2 members who are engaged in the business of providing Internet portal or search services;
"(E) 2 members who are engaged in the business of providing domain name registration services; and
"(F) 4 members who are engaged in the business of making content available over the Internet.
Of the members of the Commission by reason of each subparagraph of this paragraph, an equal number shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and by the Majority Leader of the Senate.
"(B) The Attorney General (or the Attorney General's designee).
"(C) The Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (or the Chairman's designee).
"(B) may be used in any other manner to help reduce such access. Any methods so identified shall be used as the basis for making legislative recommendations to the Congress under subsection (d) (3).
"(B) filtering or blocking software or services;
"(C) labeling or rating systems;
"(D) age verification systems;
"(E) the establishment of a domain name for posting of any material that is harmful to minors; and
"(F) any other existing or proposed technologies or methods for reducing access by minors to such material.
"(B) the effects of such technologies and methods on law enforcement entities;
"(C) the effects of such technologies and methods on privacy;
"(D) the extent to which material that is harmful to minors is globally distributed and the effect of such technologies and methods on such distribution; and
"(E) the accessibility of such technologies and methods to parents.
"(2) the conclusions and recommendations of the Commission regarding each such technology or method;
"(3) recommendations for legislative or administrative actions to implement the conclusions of the committee; and
"(4) a description of the technologies or methods identified by the study that may be used as affirmative defenses for purposes of section 231(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (as added by this Act).
"(f) TERMINATION — The Commission shall terminate 80 days after the submission of the report under sub-section (d).
"(g) INAPPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT — The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Commission.
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