Restriction of access by minors to materials commercially distributed by means of World Wide Web that are harmful to minors
Requirement to restrict access
Prohibited conduct
Intentional violations
Civil penalty
Inapplicability of carriers and other service providers
For purposes of subsection (a), a person shall not be considered to make any communication for commercial purposes to the extent that such person is—
a telecommunications carrier engaged in the provision of a telecommunications service;
a person engaged in the business of providing an Internet access service;
a person engaged in the business of providing an Internet information location tool; or
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 person’s deletion of a particular communication or material made by another person in a manner consistent with subsection (c) or section 230 of this title shall not constitute such selection or alteration of the content of the communication.
Affirmative defense
Defense
It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the defendant, in good faith, has restricted access by minors to material that is harmful to minors—
by requiring use of a credit card, debit account, adult access code, or adult personal identification number;
by accepting a digital certificate that verifies age; or
by any other reasonable measures that are feasible under available technology.
Protection for use of defenses
Privacy protection requirements
Disclosure of information limited
A person making a communication described in subsection (a)—
shall not disclose any information collected for the purposes of restricting access to such communications to individuals 17 years of age or older without the prior written or electronic consent of—
the individual concerned, if the individual is an adult; or
the individual’s parent or guardian, if the individual is under 17 years of age; and
shall take such actions as are necessary to prevent unauthorized access to such information by a person other than the person making such communication and the recipient of such communication.
Exceptions
A person making a communication described in subsection (a) may disclose such information if the disclosure is—
necessary to make the communication or conduct a legitimate business activity related to making the communication; or
made pursuant to a court order authorizing such disclosure.
Definitions
For purposes of this subsection,1
By means of the World Wide Web
Commercial purposes; engaged in the business
Commercial purposes
Engaged in the business
Internet
Internet access service
Internet information location tool
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 is obscene or that—
the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest;
depicts, describes, or represents, in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, an actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual act, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals or post-pubescent female breast; and
taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
Minor
Source
(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title II, § 231, as added Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, title XIV, § 1403,Notes
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
Congressional Findings
while custody, care, and nurture of the child resides first with the parent, the widespread availability of the Internet presents opportunities for minors to access materials through the World Wide Web in a manner that can frustrate parental supervision or control;
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;
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;
a prohibition on the distribution of material harmful to minors, combined with legitimate defenses, is currently the most effective and least restrictive means by which to satisfy the compelling government interest; and
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 find ways to protect children from being exposed to harmful material found on the Internet.”