Wisconsin 2023-2024 Regular Session

Wisconsin Senate Bill SB683 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
4	4	2023 SENATE BILL 683
5	5	November 15, 2023 - Introduced by Senators WANGGAARD and JACQUE, cosponsored
6	6	by Representatives GUSTAFSON, ALLEN, BEHNKE, BODDEN, BRANDTJEN,
7	7	DITTRICH, GUNDRUM, MURPHY, MURSAU, O'CONNOR, RETTINGER, ROZAR, SPIROS
8	8	and WICHGERS. Referred to Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse
9	9	Prevention, Children and Families.
10	10	AN ACT to create 100.75 of the statutes; relating to: the distribution of certain
11	11	materials to minors.
12	12	Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
13	13	This bill prohibits business entities from knowingly and intentionally
14	14	publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website
15	15	that contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity
16	16	performs reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals
17	17	attempting to access the website. “Material harmful to minors” is defined in the bill
18	18	to include material that is designed to appeal to prurient interests, that principally
19	19	consists of descriptions or depictions of actual or simulated sexual acts or body parts
20	20	including pubic areas, genitals, buttocks, and female nipples, and that lacks serious
21	21	literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. In the bill, “reasonable age
22	22	verification methods” includes various methods whereby the business entity may
23	23	verify that an individual seeking to access the material is not a minor. Under the bill,
24	24	persons that perform reasonable age verification methods may not knowingly retain
25	25	identifying information of the individual attempting to access the website after the
26	26	individual's access has been granted or denied.
27	27	A person that violates the provisions of the bill may be subject to civil liability
28	28	for damages caused by the violation.
29	29	The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
30	30	enact as follows:
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34	34	SECTION 1 SENATE BILL 683
35	35	SECTION 1. 100.75 of the statutes is created to read:
36	36	100.75 Publishing and distributing certain materials to minors. (1)
37	37	DEFINITIONS. In this section:
38	38	(a) “Business entity” means a proprietorship, partnership, firm, business trust,
39	39	joint venture, syndicate, corporation, limited liability company, or business
40	40	association, including all wholly owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries,
41	41	parent companies, or affiliates of such an organization or entity.
42	42	(b) “Distribute” means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmute,
43	43	circulate, or disseminate by any means.
44	44	(c) “Material harmful to minors” means material that is all of the following:
45	45	1. Material that the average person, applying contemporary community
46	46	standards and taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, would find
47	47	to be designed to appeal or pander to prurient interests.
48	48	2. Material that exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions
49	49	of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction of any of the following, in a
50	50	manner patently offensive with respect to minors:
51	51	a. Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast.
52	52	b. Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or
53	53	genitals.
54	54	c. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation,
55	55	flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act.
56	56	3. Material that when taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political,
57	57	or scientific value for minors.
58	58	(d) “Minor” means an individual under 18 years of age.
59	59	(e) “News-gathering organization employee” means any of the following:
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85	85	LRB-4960/1
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87	87	SECTION 1
88	88	SENATE BILL 683
89	89	1. An employee of a print, online, or mobile platform newspaper, news
90	90	publication, or news source that provides current news and public interest
91	91	information, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as an employee of the
92	92	newspaper, news publication, or news source.
93	93	2. An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
94	94	television operator, or wire service, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as
95	95	an employee of the radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
96	96	television operator, or wire service.
97	97	(f) “Publish" means to communicate or make information available to another
98	98	person on a publicly available Internet website.
99	99	(g) “Reasonable age verification methods” means verification by a business
100	100	entity using any of the following methods to determine that an individual seeking
101	101	access to material harmful to minors is not a minor:
102	102	1. A commercial age verification system that verifies age using the individual's
103	103	government-issued identification card or by using any commercially reasonable
104	104	method that uses public or private transactional data gathered about the individual.
105	105	2. A government-issued digitized identification card.
106	106	(h) “Substantial portion” means more than 33 1/3 percent of the total material
107	107	on a website.
108	108	(2) PROHIBITIONS. (a) No business entity may knowingly and intentionally
109	109	publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that
110	110	contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity performs
111	111	reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to
112	112	access the website.
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138	138	SECTION 1 SENATE BILL 683
139	139	(b) A person that performs a reasonable age verification method in compliance
140	140	with par. (a) may not knowingly retain identifying information of the individual
141	141	attempting to access the website after the individual's access has been granted or
142	142	denied.
143	143	(3) CIVIL LIABILITY. (a) An individual injured by a minor's access of materials
144	144	harmful to minors due to a violation of sub. (2) (a) may bring a claim seeking damages
145	145	resulting from the injury.
146	146	(b) An individual injured by a person's retention of identifying information in
147	147	violation of sub. (2) (b) may bring a claim seeking damages resulting from the injury,
148	148	court costs, and reasonably attorney fees notwithstanding s. 814.04 (1).
149	149	(4) EXEMPTIONS. (a) This section does not apply to any bona fide news or public
150	150	interest broadcast, video, report, or event, and may not be construed to affect the
151	151	rights of any news-gathering organization employee.
152	152	(b) No Internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine,
153	153	or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated this section on the basis of the
154	154	entity having provided access or connection to or from a website, content on the
155	155	Internet, or a facility, system, or network not under that entity's control, or the
156	156	entity's provision of communicating, transmitting, downloading, intermediate
157	157	storage of, providing access software for, or other services that communicate
158	158	material harmful to minors, if that entity is not responsible for the creation of the
159	159	content that constitutes material harmful to minors.
160	160	(END)
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