I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2896 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide that it is unlawful to knowingly distribute private intimate visual depictions with reckless dis- regard for the individual’s lack of consent to the distribution, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2019 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mrs. BUSTOS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. DEAN, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. KATKO, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MOORE, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. SOTO, Mr. THOMPSON of Cali- fornia, Mr. TONKO, Ms. FRANKEL, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, and Ms. HILL of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide that it is unlawful to knowingly distribute private intimate visual depictions with reckless disregard for the individ- ual’s lack of consent to the distribution, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2896.IH H2896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2896 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Harmful 2 Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution Act of 3 2019’’ or the ‘‘SHIELD Act of 2019’’. 4 SEC. 2. CERTAIN ACTIVITIES RELATING TO INTIMATE VIS- 5 UAL DEPICTIONS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 88 of title 18, United 7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘§ 1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual 10 depictions 11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 12 ‘‘(1) COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The term 13 ‘communications service’ means— 14 ‘‘(A) a service provided by a person that is 15 a common carrier, as that term is defined in 16 section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 17 (47 U.S.C. 153), insofar as the person is acting 18 as a common carrier; 19 ‘‘(B) an electronic communication service, 20 as that term is defined in section 2510; 21 ‘‘(C) an information service, as that term 22 is defined in section 3 of the Communications 23 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); and 24 ‘‘(D) an interactive computer service, as 25 that term is defined in section 230(f) of the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2896.IH H2896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2896 IH Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 1 230(f)). 2 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION CONTENT PROVIDER.—The 3 term ‘information content provider’ has the meaning 4 given that term in section 230(f) of the Communica- 5 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)). 6 ‘‘(3) INTIMATE VISUAL DEPICTION.—The term 7 ‘intimate visual depiction’ means any visual depic- 8 tion (as that term is defined in section 2256(5))— 9 ‘‘(A) of an individual who is reasonably 10 identifiable from the visual depiction itself or 11 information displayed in connection with the 12 visual depiction; 13 ‘‘(B) in which— 14 ‘‘(i) the individual has obtained 18 15 years of age and is engaging in sexually 16 explicit conduct; or 17 ‘‘(ii) the naked genitals, anus, pubic 18 area or post-pubescent female nipple of the 19 individual are visible; 20 ‘‘(C) in which the content described in sub- 21 paragraph (B) is not simulated; and 22 ‘‘(D) in original or modified format. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2896.IH H2896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2896 IH ‘‘(4) SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONDUCT.—The term 1 ‘sexually explicit conduct’ has the meaning given 2 that term in section 2256(2)(A). 3 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—Except as provided in subsection 4 (d), it shall be unlawful to knowingly use any means or 5 facility of interstate or foreign commerce to distribute an 6 intimate visual depiction of an individual— 7 ‘‘(1) with knowledge of or reckless disregard 8 for— 9 ‘‘(A) the lack of consent of the individual 10 to the distribution; and 11 ‘‘(B) the reasonable expectation of the in- 12 dividual that the depiction would remain pri- 13 vate; and 14 ‘‘(2) without an objectively reasonable belief 15 that such distribution touches upon a matter of pub- 16 lic concern. 17 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 18 (b) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 19 than 5 years, or both. 20 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 21 ‘‘(1) LAW ENFORCEMENT, LAWFUL REPORTING, 22 AND OTHER LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.—This section— 23 ‘‘(A) does not prohibit any lawful law en- 24 forcement, correctional, or intelligence activity; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2896.IH H2896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2896 IH ‘‘(B) shall not apply in the case of an indi- 1 vidual acting in good faith to report unlawful 2 activity or in pursuance of a legal or profes- 3 sional or other lawful obligation; and 4 ‘‘(C) shall not apply in the case of a docu- 5 ment production or filing associated with a legal 6 proceeding. 7 ‘‘(2) SERVICE PROVIDERS.—This section shall 8 not apply to any provider of a communications serv- 9 ice with regard to content provided by another infor- 10 mation content provider unless the provider of the 11 communications service intentionally solicits, or 12 knowingly and predominantly distributes, content 13 that the provider of the communications service ac- 14 tually knows is in violation of this section. 15 ‘‘(e) THREATS.—Any person who intentionally 16 threatens to commit an offense under subsection (b) shall 17 be punished as provided in subsection (c). 18 ‘‘(f) VENUE AND EXTRATERRITORIALITY.—A pros- 19 ecution under this section may be brought in a district 20 where the defendant or the depicted individual resides or 21 in a district where the intimate visual depictions are dis- 22 tributed or made available. There is extraterritorial Fed- 23 eral jurisdiction over an offense under this section if the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2896.IH H2896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2896 IH defendant or the depicted individual is a citizen or perma- 1 nent resident of the United States.’’. 2 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3 of chapter 88 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 4 by inserting after the item relating to section 1801 the 5 following: 6 ‘‘1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual depictions.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2896.IH H2896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS