SHIELD Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2111 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 15, 2019 Ms. HARRIS (for herself, Mr. BURR, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Harmful 4 Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution Act of 5 2019’’ or the ‘‘SHIELD Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2111.IS S2111 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2111 IS SEC. 2. CERTAIN ACTIVITIES RELATING TO INTIMATE VIS- 1 UAL DEPICTIONS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 88 of title 18, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘§ 1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual 6 depictions 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 ‘‘(1) COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The term 9 ‘communications service’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) a service provided by a person that is 11 a common carrier, as that term is defined in 12 section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 13 (47 U.S.C. 153), insofar as the person is acting 14 as a common carrier; 15 ‘‘(B) an electronic communication service, 16 as that term is defined in section 2510; 17 ‘‘(C) an information service, as that term 18 is defined in section 3 of the Communications 19 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); and 20 ‘‘(D) an interactive computer service, as 21 that term is defined in section 230(f) of the 22 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 23 230(f)). 24 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION CONTENT PROVIDER.—The 25 term ‘information content provider’ has the meaning 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2111.IS S2111 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2111 IS given that term in section 230(f) of the Communica- 1 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)). 2 ‘‘(3) INTIMATE VISUAL DEPICTION.—The term 3 ‘intimate visual depiction’ means any visual depic- 4 tion (as that term is defined in section 2256(5))— 5 ‘‘(A) of an individual who is reasonably 6 identifiable from the visual depiction itself or 7 information displayed in connection with the 8 visual depiction; 9 ‘‘(B) in which— 10 ‘‘(i) the individual has obtained 18 11 years of age and is engaging in sexually 12 explicit conduct; or 13 ‘‘(ii) the naked genitals, anus, pubic 14 area or post-pubescent female nipple of the 15 individual are visible; 16 ‘‘(C) in which the content described in sub- 17 paragraph (B) is not simulated; and 18 ‘‘(D) in original or modified format. 19 ‘‘(4) SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONDUCT.—The term 20 ‘sexually explicit conduct’ has the meaning given 21 that term in section 2256(2)(A). 22 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—Except as provided in subsection 23 (d), it shall be unlawful to knowingly use any means or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2111.IS S2111 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2111 IS facility of interstate or foreign commerce to distribute an 1 intimate visual depiction of an individual— 2 ‘‘(1) with knowledge of or reckless disregard 3 for— 4 ‘‘(A) the lack of consent of the individual 5 to the distribution; and 6 ‘‘(B) the reasonable expectation of the in- 7 dividual that the depiction would remain pri- 8 vate; and 9 ‘‘(2) without an objectively reasonable belief 10 that such distribution touches upon a matter of pub- 11 lic concern. 12 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 13 (b) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 14 than 5 years, or both. 15 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 16 ‘‘(1) LAW ENFORCEMENT, LAWFUL REPORTING, 17 AND OTHER LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.—This section— 18 ‘‘(A) does not prohibit any lawful law en- 19 forcement, correctional, or intelligence activity; 20 ‘‘(B) shall not apply in the case of an indi- 21 vidual acting in good faith to report unlawful 22 activity or in pursuance of a legal or profes- 23 sional or other lawful obligation; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2111.IS S2111 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2111 IS ‘‘(C) shall not apply in the case of a docu- 1 ment production or filing associated with a legal 2 proceeding. 3 ‘‘(2) SERVICE PROVIDERS.—This section shall 4 not apply to any provider of a communications serv- 5 ice with regard to content provided by another infor- 6 mation content provider unless the provider of the 7 communications service intentionally solicits, or 8 knowingly and predominantly distributes, content 9 that the provider of the communications service ac- 10 tually knows is in violation of this section. 11 ‘‘(e) THREATS.—Any person who intentionally 12 threatens to commit an offense under subsection (b) shall 13 be punished as provided in subsection (c). 14 ‘‘(f) VENUE AND EXTRATERRITORIALITY.—A pros- 15 ecution under this section may be brought in a district 16 where the defendant or the depicted individual resides or 17 in a district where the intimate visual depictions are dis- 18 tributed or made available. There is extraterritorial Fed- 19 eral jurisdiction over an offense under this section if the 20 defendant or the depicted individual is a citizen or perma- 21 nent resident of the United States.’’. 22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 23 of chapter 88 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2111.IS S2111 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2111 IS by inserting after the item relating to section 1801 the 1 following: 2 ‘‘1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual depictions.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2111.IS S2111 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS