1-1 By: Corte (Senate Sponsor - Ogden) H.B. No. 1300 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 9, 1997; 1-3 April 10, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 International Relations, Trade, and Technology; April 17, 1997, 1-5 reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; 1-6 April 17, 1997, sent to printer.) 1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-8 AN ACT 1-9 relating to the provision of certain software to persons who access 1-10 the Internet; providing a civil penalty. 1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-12 SECTION 1. Chapter 35, Business & Commerce Code, is amended 1-13 by adding Subchapter I to read as follows: 1-14 SUBCHAPTER I. PROVISION OF SOFTWARE TO BLOCK OR SCREEN 1-15 INTERNET MATERIAL 1-16 Sec. 35.101. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: 1-17 (1) "Freeware" means software that is distributed to a 1-18 person free of charge regardless of whether use of the software is 1-19 subject to certain restrictions. 1-20 (2) "Internet" means the largest nonproprietary 1-21 nonprofit cooperative public computer network, popularly known as 1-22 the Internet. 1-23 (3) "Interactive computer service" means any 1-24 information service or system that provides or enables computer 1-25 access by multiple users to the Internet. 1-26 (4) "Shareware" means copyrighted software in which 1-27 the copyright owner sets certain conditions for its use and 1-28 distribution, including requiring payment to the copyright owner 1-29 after a person who has secured a copy of the software decides to 1-30 use the software, regardless of whether the payment is for 1-31 additional support or functionality for the software. 1-32 Sec. 35.102. SOFTWARE THAT RESTRICTS ACCESS TO CERTAIN 1-33 MATERIAL ON INTERNET. (a) A person who provides an interactive 1-34 computer service to another person for a fee shall provide free of 1-35 charge to each subscriber of the service in this state a link 1-36 leading to fully functional shareware, freeware, or demonstration 1-37 versions of software that, for at least one operating system, 1-38 enables the subscriber to automatically block or screen material on 1-39 the Internet. 1-40 (b) A provider is considered to be in compliance with this 1-41 section if the provider places, on the provider's first page of 1-42 world wide web text information accessible to a subscriber, a link 1-43 leading to the software described by Subsection (a). The identity 1-44 of the link or other on-screen depiction of the link must appear 1-45 set out from surrounding written or graphical material so as to be 1-46 conspicuous. 1-47 (c) This section does not apply to the General Services 1-48 Commission, in its capacity as the telecommunications provider for 1-49 the state, and an institution of higher education, as that term is 1-50 defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, that provides 1-51 interactive computer service. 1-52 (d) A person who provides a link that complies with this 1-53 section is not liable to a subscriber for any temporary 1-54 inoperability of the link or for the effectiveness of the software 1-55 that the person links to. 1-56 Sec. 35.103. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person who violates 1-57 Section 35.102 is liable to the state for a civil penalty not to 1-58 exceed $10,000 for each violation. 1-59 (b) The attorney general may institute a suit to recover the 1-60 civil penalty. 1-61 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, except 1-62 that a civil penalty for a violation of Section 35.102, Business & 1-63 Commerce Code, as added by this Act, may be imposed only for a 1-64 violation that occurs on or after January 1, 1998. 2-1 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 2-6 * * * * *