TITLE 6

ACTIONS IN PARTICULAR CASES

CHAPTER 38

LIABILITY FOR PUBLISHERS AND DISTRIBUTORS OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS ON THE INTERNET

6-3802.  definitions. As used in this chapter:

(1)  "Commercial entity" means a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership, a limited partnership, a sole proprietorship, or another legally recognized business entity.

(2)  "Digitized identification card" means a data file available on any mobile device that has connectivity to the internet through a state-approved application that allows the mobile device to download a data file that contains all of the data elements visible on the face and back of a license or identification card and displays the current status of the license or identification card.

(3)  "Harmful to minors" means:

(a)  Material that the average person applying contemporary community standards would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest;

(b)  Material that is devoted to or principally consists of descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated displays or depictions of any of the following, in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors:

(i)   Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast;

(ii)  Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; or

(iii) Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and

(c)  Material that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

(4)  "Information content provider" means any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the internet or any interactive computer service.

(5)  "Interactive computer service" means any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the internet and such systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational institutions.

(6)  "Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet-switched data networks.

(7)  "Minor" means any person under the age of eighteen (18) years.

(8)(a)  "News-gathering organization" means any of the following:

(i)   An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or news source that is printed or on an online or mobile platform, of current news and public interest, while operating as an employee of such news-gathering organization, who can provide documentation of such employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source; or

(ii)  An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire service while operating as an employee of such news-gathering organization, who can provide documentation of such employment.

(b)  A website or an interactive computer service is not deemed to be a news-gathering organization unless its primary business is as an information content provider, news publisher, or broadcaster of current news and public interest.

(9)  "Publish" means to communicate or make information available to another person or entity on a publicly available internet website. A commercial entity shall not be considered the publisher of any material or information provided by another information content provider.

(10) "Reasonable age verification methods" include verifying that the person seeking to access the material is eighteen (18) years of age or older by:

(a)  Providing a digitized identification card as defined in this section; or

(b)  Requiring that the person attempting to access the material complies with a commercial age verification system that verifies age in one (1) or more of the following ways:

(i)   Government-issued identification; or

(ii)  Public or private transactional data.

(11) "Substantial portion" means more than one-third (1/3) of total material on a website. If a website links by hypertext link to the material of a third-party website, the material on such third-party website shall not be considered toward the total percentage of material if that third-party website does not contain material harmful to minors and if such linking does not constitute an attempt to intentionally dilute the percentage calculation of material harmful to minors in order to evade the provisions of this section.

(12) "Transactional data" means a sequence of information that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer between an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for the purpose of satisfying a request or event. Transactional data may include but is not limited to records from mortgage, education, and employment entities.

History:

[6-3802, added 2024, ch. 113, sec. 1, p. 487.]