S. 3432 – Reading Mode

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Project Safe Childhood Act.

2.

Project safe childhood

(a)

Establishment of program

Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall create and maintain a Project Safe Childhood program in accordance with this section.

(b)

Initial implementation

Except as authorized under subsection (c), funds authorized under this section may only be used for the following 5 purposes:

(1)

Integrated Federal, State, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases, including—

(A)

the partnership by each United States Attorney with each Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that is a part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program authorized and funded under title IV of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5771 et seq.) (referred to in this section as the ICAC Task Force Program) that exists within the district of such attorney;

(B)

the partnership by each United States Attorney with other Federal, State, and local law enforcement partners working in the district of such attorney to implement the program described in subsection (a);

(C)

the development by each United States Attorney of a district-specific strategic plan to coordinate the investigation and prosecution of child exploitation crimes;

(D)

efforts to identify and rescue victims of child exploitation crimes; and

(E)

local training, educational, and awareness programs of such crimes.

(2)

Major case coordination by the Department of Justice (or other Federal agencies as appropriate), including specific integration or cooperation, as appropriate, of—

(A)

the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section within the Department of Justice;

(B)

the Innocent Images Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

(C)

any task forces established in connection with the Project Safe Childhood program set forth under subsection (a); and

(D)

the High Tech Investigative Unit within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.

(3)

Increased Federal involvement in child pornography and enticement cases by providing additional investigative tools and increased penalties under Federal law.

(4)

Training of Federal, State, and local law enforcement through programs facilitated by—

(A)

the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children;

(B)

the ICAC Task Force Program; and

(C)

any other ongoing program regarding the investigation and prosecution of computer-facilitated crimes against children, including training and coordination regarding leads from—

(i)

Federal law enforcement operations; and

(ii)

the CyberTipline and Child Victim-Identification programs managed and maintained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

(5)

Community awareness and educational programs through partnerships to provide national public awareness and educational programs through—

(A)

the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children;

(B)

the ICAC Task Force Program; and

(C)

any other ongoing programs that—

(i)

raises national awareness about the threat of online sexual predators; or

(ii)

provides information to parents and children seeking to report possible violations of computer-facilitated crimes against children.

(c)

Expansion of project safe childhood

Notwithstanding subsection (b), funds authorized under this section may be also be used for the following purposes:

(1)

The addition of not less than 8 Assistant United States Attorneys at the Department of Justice dedicated to the prosecution of cases in connection with the Project Safe Childhood program set forth under subsection (a).

(2)

The creation, development, training, and deployment of not less than 10 new Internet Crimes Against Children task forces within the ICAC Task Force Program consisting of Federal, State, and local law enforcement personnel dedicated to the Project Safe Childhood program set forth under subsection (a), and the enhancement of the forensic capacities of existing Internet Crimes Against Children task forces.

(3)

The development and enhancement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Innocent Images task forces.

(4)

Such other additional and related purposes as the Attorney General determines appropriate.

(d)

Authorization of appropriations

For the purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated —

(1)

for the activities described under subsection (b)—

(A)

$18,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and

(B)

such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years; and

(2)

for the activities described under subsection (c)—

(A)

for fiscal year 2007—

(i)

$15,000,000 for the activities under paragraph (1);

(ii)

$10,000,000 for activities under paragraph (2); and

(iii)

$4,000,000 for activities under paragraph (3); and

(B)

such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.

3.

Child pornography and obscenity amendments

(a)

Findings

Congress makes the following findings:

(1)

It is important that electronic communications service providers report the presence of child pornography on the Internet to the CyberTipline at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for the following reasons:

(A)

A substantial interstate market in child pornography exists, including not only a multimillion dollar industry, but also a nationwide network of individuals who openly advertise their desire to exploit children and to traffic in child pornography. Many of these individuals distribute child pornography with the expectation of receiving other child pornography in return.

(B)

The interstate market in child pornography is carried on to a substantial extent through the mails and other instrumentalities of interstate and foreign commerce, such as the Internet. The advent of the Internet has greatly increased the ease of transporting, distributing, receiving, and advertising child pornography in interstate commerce. The advent of digital cameras, as well as videotape cameras, has greatly increased the ease of producing child pornography. The advent of inexpensive computer equipment with the capacity to store large numbers of digital images of child pornography has greatly increased the ease of possessing child pornography. Taken together, these technological advances have had the unfortunate result of greatly increasing the interstate market in child pornography.

(C)

The reporting of violations of the child pornography laws by electronic communications service providers to the CyberTipline at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which in turn forwards such reports to law enforcement agencies designated by the Attorney General, reduces both supply and demand in the interstate market for child pornography and enhances the prosecution of such offences.

(2)

It is important to require that warning labels be placed on commercial websites that contain sexually explicit material for the following reasons:

(A)

The World Wide Web contains a substantial amount of sexually explicit content that is inappropriate for children to view.

(B)

Many such commercial websites may accidentally be visited by children or other individuals who do not wish to view sexually explicit content.

(C)

The provision of information on each page of a commercial website that contains sexually explicit material indicating that such material is present will enable filtering software and other tools to identify websites to place on their list of websites to be blocked by the software to more effectively protect children and other individuals from inadvertently viewing material that they do not wish to view.

(D)

Requiring websites to provide information about the presence of sexually explicit material on their home page will allow individuals to make an individualized decision about whether to view such material and will protect such individuals from inadvertently being subjected to such material.

(3)

It is important to prohibit the embedding of words or images on a website in order to deceive individuals into viewing obscenity or to deceive minors into viewing material harmful to minors for the following reasons:

(A)

Many websites containing sexually explicit material attempt to lure unsuspecting victims, primarily children, into visiting these sites by embedding commonly used search terms or phrases within the source code of the website.

(B)

Luring unsuspecting victims to such commercial websites is a form of fraud that has substantial impact on interstate commerce.

(C)

Prohibiting the use of such misleading and deceptive words or images will serve to reduce the instance of such fraudulent activity.

(b)

Strengthening Section 13032 of title 42 to ensure that child pornography is effectively reported

Section 227(b)(4) of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13032(b)(4)) is amended to read as follows:

(4)

Failure to report

(A)

Willful violations

A provider of electronic communications services or remote computing services described in paragraph (1) who knowingly and willfully fails to make a report under that paragraph shall be fined—

(i)

in the case of an initial failure to make a report, not more than $150,000; and

(ii)

in the case of any second or subsequent failure to make a report, not more than $300,000.

(B)

Negligent violations

A provider of electronic communications services or remote computing services described in paragraph (1) who negligently fails to make a report under that paragraph shall be fined—

(i)

in the case of an initial failure to make a report, not more than $50,000; and

(ii)

in the case of any second or subsequent failure to make a report, not more than $100,000.

(C)

Authority of the FCC

For purposes of this paragraph, the Federal Communications Commission shall have the authority to levy civil penalties under subparagraph (B) and shall promulgate regulations, in consultation with the Attorney General—

(i)

to effectuate the purposes of subparagraph (B); and

(ii)

to provide for appropriate administrative review of any civil penalties levied under that subparagraph.

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(c)

Requiring that warning labels be placed on commercial websites containing sexually explicit material

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 is amended by adding at the end the following:

17.

Requirement to place warning labels on commercial websites containing sexually explicit material

(a)

In general

No person who operates a website located on the Internet where such website is primarily operated for commercial purposes, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, may knowingly, and with knowledge of the character of the material, place on that website sexually explicit material and—

(1)

fail to include on each page of the website that contains sexually explicit material, the marks and notices prescribed by the Commission under subsection (b); and

(2)

fail to ensure that the matter on the website that is initially viewable, absent any further action by the viewer, does not include any sexually explicit material.

(b)

Prescription of marks and notices

Not later than 90 days after the enactment of this section, the Commission shall, in consultation with the Attorney General, provide by regulation clearly identifiable marks or notices—

(1)

if technologically feasible in the source code of a website; or

(2)

if not technologically feasible, on the pages of websites that contain sexually explicit material in order to—

(A)

inform the viewer of that fact; and

(B)

facilitate the filtering of such pages.

(c)

Inapplicability to carriers and other service providers

This section shall not apply to any person to the extent that such person is—

(1)

a telecommunications carrier engaged in the provision of a telecommunications service, as such terms are defined in the Communication Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.);

(2)

a person engaged in the business of providing an Internet access service, as determined by the Commission; or

(3)

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 such communication, except that the deletion by such person of a particular communication or material made by another person in a manner consistent with any applicable law or regulation shall not constitute such selection or alteration of the content of such communication.

(d)

Definitions

For purposes of this section, the term—

(1)

Commission means the Federal Trade Commission;

(2)

website—

(A)

means any collection of material placed in a computer server-based file archive so that it is publicly accessible, over the Internet, using hypertext transfer protocol or any successor protocol; and

(B)

does not include any collection of material where access to sexually explicit material is restricted to a specific set of individuals through the provision of a password or through another access restriction mechanism;

(3)

sexually explicit material means any material that depicts sexually explicit conduct (as that term is defined in paragraph (2)(A) of section 2256 of title 18, United States Code), unless the depiction constitutes a small and insignificant part of the whole, the remainder of which is not primarily devoted to sexual matters;

(4)

Internet means the combination of computer facilities and electromagnetic transmission media, and related equipment and software, comprising the interconnected worldwide network of computer networks that employ the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or any successor protocol to transmit information;

(5)

Internet access service—

(A)

means a service that enables users to access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the Internet, and may include access to proprietary content, information, and other services as part of a package of services offered to consumers; and

(B)

does not include telecommunications services; and

(6)

source code means the combination of text and other characters comprising the content, both viewable and non-viewable, of a web page, including any—

(A)

website publishing language;

(B)

programming language;

(C)

protocol or functional content; and

(D)

successor languages or protocols.

(e)

Penalties

Whoever violates this section shall be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

.

(d)

Prohibiting the embedding of words or images on a website in order to deceive individuals into viewing obscenity or material harmful to minors

Chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 2252B the following:

2252C.

Misleading words or digital images on the Internet

(a)

Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images onto the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity on the Internet shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

(b)

Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images onto the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material harmful to minors on the Internet shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 4 years, or both.

(c)

For purposes of this section, a word or digital image that clearly indicates the sexual content of a site, such as sex or porn, is not misleading.

(d)

For purposes of this section, the term material that is harmful to minors means any communication, consisting of nudity, sex, or excretion, that, taken as a whole and with reference to its context—

(1)

predominantly appeals to a prurient interest of minors;

(2)

is patently offensive to the prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(3)

lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.

(e)

For purposes of subsection (d), the term sex means acts of masturbation, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person’s genitals, or the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

(f)

For purposes of this section, the term source code means the combination of text and other characters comprising the content, both viewable and non-viewable, of a web page, including any—

(1)

website publishing language;

(2)

programming language;

(3)

protocol or functional content; and

(4)

successor languages or protocols.

.

4.

Increased penalties for registered sex offenders

(a)

Offense

Chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

2260A.

Increased penalties for registered sex offenders

Whoever, being required by Federal or other law to register as a sex offender, commits a felony offense involving a child under another provision of this chapter, a provision of chapter 117, or section 1201, 1466A, 1470, or 1591 shall be fined under this title and imprisoned 10 years in addition to the imprisonment imposed for the offense under that provision. The sentence imposed under this section shall be consecutive to any sentence imposed for the offense under that provision.

.

(b)

Clerical amendment

The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

Sec. 2260A. Increased penalties for registered sex offenders.

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5.

Increased penalties for child sex trafficking and sexual abuse

(a)

Child prostitution and sex trafficking offenses

(1)

In general

Section 2423 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(A)

in subsection (a), by striking 5 years and not more than 30 years and inserting 15 years or for life; and

(B)

in subsection (d), by striking , imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both and inserting and imprisoned for not less than 30 years.

(2)

Penalties for coercion and enticement by sex offenders

Section 2422 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(A)

in subsection (a), by striking or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both and inserting and imprisoned not less than 10 years nor more than 30 years; and

(B)

in subsection (b), by striking 5 years and not more than 30 years and inserting 15 years or for life.

(3)

Mandatory penalties for sex-trafficking of children

Section 1591(b) of title 18, United States Code is amended—

(A)

in paragraph (1) by striking or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or both and inserting and imprisonment for any term of years not less than 25 or for life; and

(B)

in paragraph (2)—

(i)

by striking or imprisonment for not and inserting an imprisonment for not less than 15 years nor; and

(ii)

by striking , or both.

(b)

Mandatory life imprisonment for certain repeated sex offenses against children

Section 3559(e)(2)(A) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(1)

by striking or 2423(a) and inserting 2423(a); and

(2)

by inserting , 2423(b) (relating to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct), 2423(c) (relating to illicit sexual conduct in foreign places), or 2425 (relating to use of interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor) after minors).

(c)

Increased penalties for sexual abuse

(1)

Aggravated sexual abuse

Section 2241 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(A)

in subsection (a), by striking , imprisonment for any term of years or life, or both and inserting and imprisoned for any term of years not less than 15 or for life;

(B)

in subsection (b), by striking , imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both and inserting and imprisoned for any term of years not less than 10 or for life; and

(C)

in subsection (c), in the first sentence, by striking , imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both. and inserting and imprisoned for not less than 20 years or for life..

(2)

Sexual abuse

Section 2242 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking , imprisoned not less than 20 years, or both and inserting and imprisoned not less than 10 years nor more than 30 years.

(3)

Abusive sexual contact

Section 2244 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(A)

in subsection (a)—

(i)

in paragraph (1), by striking , imprisoned not more than ten years, or both and inserting and imprisoned for not less than 3 years nor more than 15 years;

(ii)

in paragraph (2), by striking , imprisoned for not more than three years, or both and inserting an imprisoned for not less than 2 years nor more than 10 years;

(iii)

in paragraph (3), by striking two years and inserting 10 years; and

(iv)

in paragraph (4), by striking two years and inserting 10 years; and

(B)

in subsection (c) by striking maximum.

(4)

Sexual abuse of wards

Chapter 109A of title 18, United States Code, is amended in section 2243(b), by striking , imprisoned not more than five years, or both and inserting and imprisoned for not less than 5 years nor more than 15 years.

6.

Increased penalties for child pornography and related offenses

(a)

Sexual exploitation of children

Section 2251(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(1)

by inserting section 1591, before this chapter the first place such term appears;

(2)

by striking the sexual exploitation of children: the first place it appears and inserting aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact involving a minor or ward, sex trafficking of children, or the production, possession, receipt, mailing, sale, distribution, shipment, or transportation of child pornography;

(3)

by striking 15 years nor more than 30 years and inserting 20 years or for life;

(4)

by striking not less than 25 years nor more than 50 years, and all that follows through not less than 35 years nor more than life. and inserting life.; and

(5)

by striking any term of years or for life and inserting not less than 30 years or for life..

(b)

Activities relating to material involving the sexual exploitation of children

Section 2252(b) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(1)

in paragraph (1)—

(A)

by striking paragraphs (1) and inserting paragraph (1);

(B)

by inserting section 1591, before this chapter,;

(C)

by inserting , or sex trafficking of children after child pornography;

(D)

by striking 5 years and not more than 20 years and inserting 15 years or for life; and

(E)

by striking not less than 15 years nor more than 40 years. and inserting life.; and

(2)

in paragraph (2)—

(A)

by striking or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both and inserting and imprisoned for not less than 3 years nor more than 20 years; and

(B)

by striking 10 years nor more than 20 years. and inserting 20 years or for life..

(c)

Activities relating to material constituting or containing child pornography

Section 2252A(b) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(1)

in paragraph (1)—

(A)

by inserting section 1591, before this chapter,;

(B)

by inserting , or sex trafficking of children after child pornography;

(C)

by striking 5 years and not more than 20 years and inserting 15 years or for life; and

(D)

by striking not less than 15 years nor more than 40 years and inserting life; and

(2)

in paragraph (2)—

(A)

by striking or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both and inserting and imprisoned for not less than 3 years nor more than 20 years; and

(B)

by striking 10 years nor more than 20 years and inserting 20 years or for life..

(d)

Using misleading domain names to direct children to harmful material on the internet

Section 2252B(b) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking or imprisoned not more than 4 years, or both and inserting and imprisoned for not less than 5 years nor more than 20 years.

(e)

Extraterritorial child pornography offenses

Section 2260(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follow:

(c)

Penalties.—

(1)

Use of minor

A person who violates subsection (a), or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided in subsection (e) of section 2251 for a violation of that section, including the penalties provided for such a violation by a person with a prior conviction or convictions, as described in that subsection.

(2)

Use of visual depiction

A person who violates subsection (b), or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided in subsection (b)(1) of section 2252 for a violation of paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (a) of that section, including the penalties provided for such violation by a person with a prior conviction or convictions, as described in subsection (b)(1) of section 2252.

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7.

Children’s safety online awareness campaigns

(a)

Awareness campaign for children’s safety online

(1)

In general

The Attorney General, in consultation with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is authorized to develop and carry out a public awareness campaign to demonstrate, explain, and encourage children, parents, and community leaders to better protect children when such children are on the Internet.

(2)

Required components

The public awareness campaign described under paragraph (1) shall include components that compliment and reinforce the campaign message in a variety of media, including the Internet, television, radio, and billboards.

(b)

Awareness campaign regarding the accessibility and utilization of sex offender registries

The Attorney General, in consultation with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is authorized to develop and carry out a public awareness campaign to demonstrate, explain, and encourage parents and community leaders to better access and utilize the Federal and State sex offender registries.

(c)

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as are necessary for fiscal year 2007 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

8.

Grants for online child safety programs

(a)

In general

The Attorney General shall, subject to the availability of appropriations, make grants to States, units of local government, and nonprofit organizations for the purposes of establishing and maintaining programs with respect to improving and educating children and parents in the best ways for children to be safe when on the Internet.

(b)

Definition of State

For purposes of this section, the term State means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

(c)

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as are necessary for fiscal year 2007 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.