Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Crime

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

This hearing examined issues related to H.R. 3508, the Children's Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1996, which prohibits the sale of personal information about children without parents' written consent, and the use of prisoner labor to process personal information about children. The Act also establishes a criminal penalty for exchanging information about a child while knowing or having reason to believe that the information will be used to harm the child. Witnesses included representatives from the direct mail industry and professional organizations, a public policy research group, a child protection organization, and a university; Marc Klass, father of murder victim Polly Klass; New Jersey Representative Bob Franks; and a law enforcement officer. Proponents of the legislation contended that self-regulation has not succeeded in establishing adequate privacy safeguards. Commercial list companies are compiling an elaborate data base on every American child; these data are available for purchase by any interested party and over the Internet. Such availability invades children's privacy and creates a potentially dangerous situation for them because such information is available to pedophiles, and especially because prison labor is often used to process consumer surveys into list data. Opponents to the proposed legislation questioned that commercial mailing lists could be used by pedophiles to locate victims and contended that the legislation would restrict university identification of potential students, limit distribution of educational materials such as children's books, and would interfere with military recruitment. Appendices contain additional statements, letters, or materials submitted. (KDFB)