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SEC. 4. PROHIBITION AGAINST PREDATORY
AND ABUSIVE COMMERCIAL E-MAIL.
(1) IN GENERAL- Chapter 47 of title
18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following new section:
`Sec. 1037. Fraud and related activity in
connection with electronic mail
`(a) IN GENERAL- Whoever, in or affecting
interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly--
`(1) accesses a protected computer
without authorization, and intentionally initiates the transmission
of multiple commercial electronic mail messages from or
through such computer,
`(2) uses a protected computer to
relay or retransmit multiple commercial electronic mail
messages, with the intent to deceive or mislead recipients,
or any Internet access service, as to the origin of such
messages,
`(3) materially falsifies header
information in multiple commercial electronic mail messages
and intentionally initiates the transmission of such messages,
`(4) registers, using information
that materially falsifies the identity of the actual registrant,
for five or more electronic mail accounts or online user
accounts or two or more domain names, and intentionally
initiates the transmission of multiple commercial electronic
mail messages from any combination of such accounts or domain
names, or
`(5) falsely represents oneself
to be the registrant or the legitimate successor in interest
to the registrant of 5 or more Internet Protocol addresses,
and intentionally initiates the transmission of multiple
commercial electronic mail messages from such addresses,
or conspires to do so, shall be punished
as provided in subsection (b).
`(b) PENALTIES- The punishment for
an offense under subsection (a) is--
`(1) a fine under this title, imprisonment
for not more than 5 years, or both, if--
`(A) the offense is committed
in furtherance of any felony under the laws of the United
States or of any State; or
`(B) the defendant has previously
been convicted under this section or section 1030, or
under the law of any State for conduct involving the transmission
of multiple commercial electronic mail messages or unauthorised
access to a computer system;
`(2) a fine under this title, imprisonment
for not more than 3 years, or both, if--
`(A) the offense is an offense
under subsection (a)(1);
`(B) the offense is an offense
under subsection (a)(4) and involved 20 or more falsified
electronic mail or online user account registrations,
or 10 or more falsified domain name registrations;
`(C) the volume of electronic
mail messages transmitted in furtherance of the offense
exceeded 2,500 during any 24-hour period, 25,000 during
any 30-day period, or 250,000 during any 1-year period;
`(D) the offense caused loss to
one or more persons aggregating $5,000 or more in value
during any 1-year period;
`(E) as a result of the offense
any individual committing the offense obtained anything
of value aggregating $5,000 or more during any 1-year
period; or
`(F) the offense was undertaken
by the defendant in concert with three or more other persons
with respect to whom the defendant occupied a position
of organizer or leader; and
`(3) a fine under this title or
imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both, in any other
case.
`(1) IN GENERAL- The court, in imposing
sentence on a person who is convicted of an offense under
this section, shall order that the defendant forfeit to
the United States--
`(A) any property, real or personal,
constituting or traceable to gross proceeds obtained from
such offense; and
`(B) any equipment, software,
or other technology used or intended to be used to commit
or to facilitate the commission of such offense.
`(2) PROCEDURES- The procedures
set forth in section 413 of the Controlled Substances Act
(21 U.S.C. 853), other than subsection (d) of that section,
and in Rule 32.2 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure,
shall apply to all stages of a criminal forfeiture proceeding
under this section.
`(d) DEFINITIONS- In this section:
`(1) LOSS- The term `loss' has the
meaning given that term in section 1030(e) of this title.
`(2) MATERIALLY- For purposes of
paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection (a), header information
or registration information is materially falsified if it
is altered or concealed in a manner that would impair the
ability of a recipient of the message, an Internet access
service processing the message on behalf of a recipient,
a person alleging a violation of this section, or a law
enforcement agency to identify, locate, or respond to a
person who initiated the electronic mail message or to investigate
the alleged violation.
`(3) MULTIPLE- The term `multiple'
means more than 100 electronic mail messages during a 24-hour
period, more than 1,000 electronic mail messages during
a 30-day period, or more than 10,000 electronic mail messages
during a 1-year period.
`(4) OTHER TERMS- Any other term
has the meaning given that term by section 3 of the CAN-SPAM
Act of 2003.'.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- The chapter
analysis for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following:
`Sec.
`1037. Fraud and related activity
in connection with electronic mail.'.
(b) UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION-
(1) DIRECTIVE- Pursuant to its authority
under section 994(p) of title 28, United States Code, and
in accordance with this section, the United States Sentencing
Commission shall review and, as appropriate, amend the sentencing
guidelines and policy statements to provide appropriate
penalties for violations of section 1037 of title 18, United
States Code, as added by this section, and other offenses
that may be facilitated by the sending of large quantities
of unsolicited electronic mail.
(2) REQUIREMENTS- In carrying out
this subsection, the Sentencing Commission shall consider
providing sentencing enhancements for--
(A) those convicted under section
1037 of title 18, United States Code, who--
(i) obtained electronic mail
addresses through improper means, including--
(I) harvesting electronic
mail addresses of the users of a website, proprietary
service, or other online public forum operated by
another person, without the authorization of such
person; and
(II) randomly generating electronic
mail addresses by computer; or
(ii) knew that the commercial
electronic mail messages involved in the offense contained
or advertised an Internet domain for which the registrant
of the domain had provided false registration information;
and
(B) those convicted of other offenses,
including offenses involving fraud, identity theft, obscenity,
child pornography, and the sexual exploitation of children,
if such offenses involved the sending of large quantities
of electronic mail.
(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS- It is the sense
of Congress that--
(1) Spam has become the method of
choice for those who distribute pornography, perpetrate
fraudulent schemes, and introduce viruses, worms, and Trojan
horses into personal and business computer systems; and
(2) the Department of Justice should
use all existing law enforcement tools to investigate and
prosecute those who send bulk commercial e-mail to facilitate
the commission of Federal crimes, including the tools contained
in chapters 47 and 63 of title 18, United States Code (relating
to fraud and false statements); chapter 71 of title 18,
United States Code (relating to obscenity); chapter 110
of title 18, United States Code (relating to the sexual
exploitation of children); and chapter 95 of title 18, United
States Code (relating to racketeering), as appropriate.
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