107th CONGRESS
1st Session

H. R. 718

As amended June 5, 2001

---

A BILL

   To protect individuals, families, and Internet service providers from unsolicited and unwanted electronic mail.

   Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the 'Anti-Spamming Act of 2001'.

SEC. 2. SPAMMING PROHIBITIONS.

(a) IN GENERAL- Part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 29 the following:

'CHAPTER 30--ELECTRONIC MAIL

'Sec.

'621. Unsolicited commercial electronic mail containing fraudulent transmission information.

'622. Warning labels for electronic mail containing advertisements harmful to minors.

'Sec. 621. Unsolicited commercial electronic mail containing fraudulent transmission information

'(a) Whoever intentionally initiates in one or more transactions the transmission of 10 or more unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages to one or more protected computers in the United States, knowing that each such message contains or is accompanied by header information that is materially false or misleading as to the identity of the person initiating the transmission shall be fined under this title, and in the case of an offense under this section which occurs after conviction for a prior offense under this section, shall be so fined or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

'(b) As used in this section--

'(1) the term 'commercial electronic mail message' means an electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is to advertise or promote, for a commercial purpose, a product or service (including content on an Internet website);

'(2) the term 'header information' means the source, destination, and routing information, including the originating domain name and originating electronic mail address; and

'(3) the term 'protected computer' has the meaning given that term in section 1030(e)(2) of this title.

'(c)(1) A provider of Internet access service, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of a court of a State, may bring in an appropriate court of that State, or, if such laws or rules do not so permit, may bring in an appropriate Federal court, an action to recover for actual or statutory damages, as provided in paragraph (2), and for costs, as provided in paragraph (4).

'(2) A person committing a violation of subsection (a) is liable to a provider of Internet access service for either--

'(A) the actual damages suffered by the provider of Internet access service; or

'(B) statutory damages, as provided in paragraph (3).

'(3) At any time before final judgment in an action, a provider of Internet access service may elect to recover an award of statutory damages for each violation of subsection (a) in the sum of $5 per violation, not to exceed a total of $1,000,000, except that, during any one-year period for which the defendant has transmitted in excess of 20,000,000 unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages, no such limit on liability shall exist.

'(4) In any action brought under paragraph (1), the court may award to a prevailing party reasonable litigation expenses incurred by that party, including reasonable attorney's fees, as a part of the costs awarded under section 1920 of title 28 against any party found in that action to have committed a violation of subsection (a).

'Sec. 622. Warning labels for electronic mail containing advertisements harmful to minors

'(a)(1) The Attorney General shall prescribe marks or notices to be included in electronic mail that contains a sexually oriented advertisement in order to inform the recipient of that fact.

'(2) Whoever, in any electronic mail that is carried on an instrumentality in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly includes a sexually oriented advertisement but does not include in such electronic mail the marks or notices prescribed by the Attorney General under this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

'(b) As used in this section, the term 'sexually oriented advertisement' means any advertisement that depicts, in actual or simulated form, or explicitly describes, in a predominantly sexual context, human genitalia, any act of natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism, or any other erotic subject directly related to the foregoing, but material otherwise within the definition of this subsection shall be deemed not to constitute a sexually oriented advertisement if it constitutes only a small and insignificant part of the whole, the remainder of which is not primarily devoted to sexual matters.'.

(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT- The table of chapters at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 29 the following new item:

621'.

SEC. 3. STUDY OF EFFECTS OF UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC MAIL.

Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit a report to the Congress that provides a detailed analysis of the effectiveness and enforcement of the provisions of this Act and the need (if any) for the Congress to modify such provisions.

END