PRINTER'S NO. 2765
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
2143
Session of
2024
INTRODUCED BY COOPER, PARKER, KAUFFMAN, FLICK, KINSEY, M. BROWN,
MARCELL, MUNROE, GREGORY, MIHALEK, KUZMA, CABELL, GILLEN,
E. NELSON, CERRATO, LEADBETER, DALEY, DELLOSO, FLEMING,
M. JONES, ROWE AND BANTA, MARCH 25, 2024
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION, TECHNOLOGY AND
UTILITIES, MARCH 25, 2024
AN ACT
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in computer offenses, providing for
liability for Internet publishers and distributors of
material harmful to minors; and making an editorial change.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Subchapter E heading of Chapter 76 of Title 18 of
the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
SUBCHAPTER E
ELECTRONIC MAIL AND WEBSITE MATERIAL
Section 2. Title 18 is amended by adding a section to read:
§ 7662. Liability for Internet publishers and distributors of
material harmful to minors.
(a) Duty of commercial entities.--A commercial entity that
in the regular course of trade or business hosts or makes
available material that is harmful to minors and is provided by
the entity with the objective of earning a profit, shall adopt
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and utilize age verification measures to ensure that minors in
this Commonwealth are prevented from accessing material harmful
to minors that is hosted or made available on a website by the
commercial entity.
(b) Prohibited conduct.--Neither the commercial entity
described in subsection (a) nor a third party that provides age
verification measures under subsection (a) may:
(1) keep or retain the personal identifying information
of an individual who accesses or views or attempts to access
or view material harmful to minors; or
(2) share the personal identifying information of an
individual who accesses or views or attempts to access or
view material harmful to minors with another person.
(c) Recovery authorized.--A court of competent jurisdiction
may award the following damages for a violation of subsection
(a), when a minor accesses or views the material harmful to
minors, or subsection (b):
(1) Treble damages arising from the violation or
$10,000, whichever is greater.
(2) Reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
(3) Injunctive relief sufficient to prevent the
defendant from a continued violation of subsection (a).
(4) Additional relief the court deems necessary and
proper.
(d) Exception.--An Internet service provider, affiliate or
subsidiary of an Internet service provider, search engine or
cloud service provider does not violate this section solely by
providing access or connection to or from a website or other
information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system or
network not under that provider's control, including
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transmission, downloading, storing or providing access to the
extent that the Internet service provider does not create the
content of the communication that constitutes material harmful
to minors.
(e) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Age verification measure." Technology that:
(1) employs a system or process to determine whether it
is more likely than not that a user attempting to access
content on a website is an adult; and
(2) prevents access by minors to any content that is
harmful to minors.
"Commercial entity." A corporation, limited liability
company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship
or other legally recognized entity that:
(1) is engaged in commerce in this Commonwealth; or
(2) purposefully avails itself of the market of this
Commonwealth or a portion of the market.
"Harmful to minors." As defined in 18 Pa.C.S. § 5903(e)(6)
(relating to obscene and other sexual materials and
performances).
"Minor." An individual who is under 18 years of age.
"Publish." To communicate or make information available to
another individual or entity on a publicly accessible Internet
website.
"Website." A collection of material placed in a computer
server-based file archive so that the material is publicly
accessible, over the Internet, using hypertext transfer protocol
or any successor protocol.
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Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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