Bill Summary
The "Revising Existing Procedures On Reporting via Technology Act", also known as the "REPORT Act", is a bill that is being proposed to amend existing laws in the United States Code. The purpose of this bill is to strengthen the reporting system to the CyberTipline, which is responsible for monitoring and addressing online sexual exploitation of children. This includes modernizing the laws and liabilities for reporting such cases, as well as preserving the contents of the reports for a period of one year. The bill also aims to increase the responsibility of internet service providers and domain name registrars in reporting and handling cases of apparent child pornography. The amendments made by the bill also provide limited liability for certain individuals and vendors who are contracted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to support their duties. The bill also extends the preservation period for reports to the CyberTipline from 90 days to one year and sets a higher penalty for providers who fail to report cases of online sexual exploitation of children. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children may also issue guidelines for providers to better identify and report cases of child sex trafficking and online enticement of children.
Possible Impacts
1. The REPORT Act could affect providers and domain name registrars by imposing stricter rules for reporting and handling child pornography cases, potentially increasing their workload and responsibilities.
2. The limited liability modernization could affect individuals depicted in child pornography as minors, as they may now be protected from civil claims or criminal charges if they report the content to NCMEC.
3. The strengthening of the duty to report apparent violations could affect providers with a large number of monthly active users, as they may face larger penalties for not reporting cases of child exploitation or trafficking.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5082 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5082
To amend title 18, United States Code, to strengthen reporting to the
CyberTipline related to online sexual exploitation of children, to
modernize liabilities for such reports, to preserve the contents of
such reports for 1 year, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 28, 2023
Ms. Lee of Florida (for herself, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Ms. Dean of
Pennsylvania, and Ms. Lee of Nevada) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to strengthen reporting to the
CyberTipline related to online sexual exploitation of children, to
modernize liabilities for such reports, to preserve the contents of
such reports for 1 year, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Revising Existing Procedures On
Reporting via Technology Act'' or the ``REPORT Act''.
SEC. 2. LIMITED LIABILITY MODERNIZATION.
(a) Amendments.--Section 2258B of title 18, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking ``providers or
domain name registrars'' and inserting ``the reporting,
storage, and handling of certain visual depictions of apparent
child pornography to the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
inserting ``or charge'' after ``a claim''; and
(B) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ``this
section,''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Limited Liability for NCMEC-Contracted Vendors.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), a
civil claim or criminal charge may not be brought in any
Federal or State court against a vendor contractually retained
and designated by NCMEC to support the duties of NCMEC under
section 404(b)(1)(K) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Act of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11293(b)(1)(K)).
``(2) Intentional, reckless, or other misconduct.--
Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a claim or charge if the
vendor--
``(A) engaged in--
``(i) intentional misconduct; or
``(ii) negligent conduct; or
``(B) acted, or failed to act--
``(i) with actual malice;
``(ii) with reckless disregard to a
substantial risk of causing injury without
legal justification; or
``(iii) for a purpose unrelated to the
performance of any responsibility or function--
``(I) set forth in paragraph (1);
or
``(II) pursuant to section 2258A,
2258C, 2702, or 2703.
``(3) Minimizing access by vendor.--With respect to any
visual depiction provided pursuant to the duties of NCMEC under
section 404(b)(1)(K) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Act of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11293(b)(1)(K)) that is
stored or transferred by a vendor contractually retained and
designated by NCMEC to support such duties of NCMEC, a vendor
shall--
``(A) minimize the number of employees that may be
able to obtain access to such visual depiction; and
``(B) employ end-to-end encryption for data storage
and transfer functions, or an equivalent technological
standard.
``(e) Limited Liability for Reporting Apparent Child Pornography by
an Individual Depicted in the Child Pornography as a Minor, or a
Representative of Such Individual.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), a
civil claim or criminal charge may not be brought in any
Federal or State court against an individual depicted in child
pornography as a minor, or a representative of such individual,
arising from a report to the NCMEC CyberTipline by the
individual, or the representative of such individual, of
information that relates to the child pornography in which the
individual is depicted as a minor, including a copy of the
child pornography.
``(2) Intentional, reckless, or other misconduct.--
Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a claim or charge if the
individual, or the representative of such individual--
``(A) engaged in--
``(i) intentional misconduct;
``(ii) negligent conduct; or
``(iii) any activity which constitutes a
violation of section 2251; or
``(B) acted, or failed to act--
``(i) with actual malice; or
``(ii) with reckless disregard to a
substantial risk of causing injury without
legal justification.
``(3) Minimizing access.--With respect to any child
pornography reported to the NCMEC CyberTipline by an individual
depicted in the child pornography as a minor, or a
representative of such individual, NCMEC shall minimize access
to the child pornography and ensure the appropriate deletion of
the child pornography, as set forth in section 2258D.
``(4) Definition.--For purposes of this subsection, the
term `representative', with respect to an individual depicted
in child pornography--
``(A) means--
``(i) the parent or legal guardian of the
individual, if the individual is under 18 years
of age;
``(ii) the legal guardian or other person
appointed by a court to represent the
individual;
``(iii) a legal representative retained by
the individual;
``(iv) a representative of the estate of
the individual; or
``(v) a person who is a mandated reporter
under section 226(a)(1) of the Victims of Child
Abuse Act of 1990 (34 U.S.C. 20341(a)(1)); and
``(B) does not include a person who engaged in any
activity which constitutes a violation of section
2251.''.
(b) Applicability.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to a civil claim or criminal charge that is filed on
or after the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) Table of Sections Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter
110 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking the item
relating to section 2258B and inserting the following:
``2258B. Limited liability for the reporting, storage, and handling of
certain visual depictions of apparent child
pornography to the National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children.''.
SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF REPORTS TO CYBERTIPLINE RELATED TO ONLINE
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN.
Section 2258A(h) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``90 days'' and inserting
``1 year''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Extension of preservation.--A provider of a report to
the CyberTipline under subsection (a)(1) may voluntarily
preserve the contents provided in the report (including any
comingled content described in paragraph (2)) for longer than 1
year after the submission to the CyberTipline for the purpose
of reducing the proliferation of online child sexual
exploitation or preventing the online sexual exploitation of
children.
``(6) Method of preservation.--Not later than 1 year after
the date of enactment of this paragraph, a provider of a report
to the CyberTipline under subsection (a)(1) shall preserve
materials under this subsection in a manner that is consistent
with the most recent version of the Cybersecurity Framework
developed by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, or any successor thereto.''.
SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING OF DUTY TO REPORT APPARENT VIOLATIONS TO
CYBERTIPLINE RELATED TO ONLINE EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN.
(a) Amendments.--Section 2258A of title 18, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(2)(A), by inserting ``, of section
1591 (if the violation involves a minor), or of 2422(b)'' after
``child pornography''; and
(2) in subsection (e)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``$150,000'' and
inserting ``$850,000 in the case of a provider with not
less than 100,000,000 monthly active users or $600,000
in the case of a provider with less than 100,000,000
monthly active users''; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``$300,000'' and
inserting ``$1,000,000 in the case of a provider with
not less than 100,000,000 monthly active users or
$850,000 in the case of a provider with less than
100,000,000 monthly active users''.
(b) Guidelines.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children may issue guidelines, as appropriate, to providers required or
permitted to take actions described in section 2258A(a)(1)(B) of title
18, United States Code, on the relevant identifiers for content that
may indicate sex trafficking of children, as described in section 1591
of that title, or enticement, as described in section 2422(b) of that
title.
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