Bill Text: PA HB2509 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requiring online dating service providers to disclose information relating to criminal background checks of its users; imposing penalties; and establishing the Internet Dating Disclosure and Safety Awareness Fund.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 13-6)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-06-25 - Referred to JUDICIARY [HB2509 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-HB2509-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 3821
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 2509 Session of2012
INTRODUCED BY HARHART, GEIST, PARKER, PICKETT, CLYMER, DAVIS, DUNBAR, GILLESPIE, HESS, KILLION, MAHONEY, MILLARD, MURT, QUINN, READSHAW, SCHMOTZER, SONNEY, SWANGER AND WATERS, JUNE 25, 2012
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JUNE 25, 2012
AN ACT
Requiring online dating service providers to disclose
information relating to criminal background checks of its
users; imposing penalties; and establishing the Internet
Dating Disclosure and Safety Awareness Fund.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Internet
Dating Disclosure and Safety Awareness Act.
Section 2. Findings.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) Criminals and sex offenders use online dating
services to prey upon the residents of this Commonwealth.
(2) Residents of this Commonwealth need to be informed
when viewing Internet websites of online dating services as
to the potential risks to personal safety associated with
online dating. Requiring disclosures in the form of
guidelines for safer dating and informing residents as to
whether a criminal background screening has been conducted on
members of an online dating service fulfills a compelling
State interest to increase public awareness of the possible
risks associated with Internet dating activities.
Section 3. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Criminal background check." A search for a member's felony
and sex offense convictions, if any, initiated by an online
dating service provider conducted through one of the following
means:
(1) By searching available and regularly updated
government public record databases for felony and sex offense
convictions so long as the databases, in the aggregate,
provide substantially national coverage.
(2) By searching a database maintained by a private
vendor whose database:
(i) contains more than 170,000,000 criminal records
that are otherwise available to the public;
(ii) has substantially national coverage;
(iii) is updated at least every 30 days;
(iv) is operated and maintained in the United
States; and
(v) contains at least the same or substantially
similar criminal history records as would be otherwise
accessible through searches of all the available
government databases specified in paragraph (1).
"Member." A person who submits to an online dating service
provider the information required by the provider to access the
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provider's service for the purpose of engaging in dating,
participating in compatibility evaluations with other persons or
obtaining matrimonial matching services.
"Online dating service provider" or "provider." A person
engaged in the business of offering or providing to its members
for a fee access to dating, compatibility evaluations between
persons or matrimonial matching services through the Internet.
"Sex offense conviction." A conviction for an offense that
would qualify the offender for registration as a sex offender
pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 97 Subch. H (relating to registration
of sexual offenders) or under another state's equivalent
statute.
Section 4. Disclosures.
(a) General rule.--An online dating service provider
offering services to residents of this Commonwealth shall
disclose clearly and conspicuously, to any member who provides a
billing address or a zip code in this Commonwealth when
registering with the provider, that the online dating service
provider either initiates criminal background checks prior to
permitting any member to communicate with a member in this
Commonwealth or that the online dating service provider does not
initiate criminal background checks.
(b) Background check not conducted.--If the online dating
service provider does not initiate criminal background checks,
the provider shall publish on its Internet website the following
disclosure:
NO CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK OF FELONY OR SEX OFFENSE
CONVICTIONS IS DONE ON MEMBERS WHO USE THIS SERVICE.
PLEASE TAKE APPROPRIATE SAFETY MEASURES TO INCREASE
AWARENESS OF POSSIBLE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH DATING.
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(c) Background check conducted.--If the online dating
service provider initiates criminal background checks, the
provider shall publish on its Internet website the following
disclosure:
(NAME OF PROVIDER) INITIATES A LIMITED CRIMINAL
BACKGROUND CHECK FOR FELONY AND SEX OFFENSE CONVICTIONS
BEFORE A MEMBER IS PERMITTED TO COMMUNICATE WITH ANY
MEMBER FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
(d) Appearance.--The disclosure required under subsection
(b) or (c) shall appear on a web page required to be viewed by a
person applying to be a member who has indicated a billing
address or zip code in this Commonwealth in the registration
process. The disclosure cannot be more than three inches from
the top of the web page and must be:
(1) In bold capital letters.
(2) In at least 12-point type.
(3) In a color that contrasts from the background.
(e) Acknowledgment.--The provider shall require the
applicant in this Commonwealth to make an electronic
acknowledgment that the applicant has been provided the
disclosure before the applicant is accepted as a member. The
disclosure required under subsection (b) or (c) shall
additionally appear on any page that appears to a member in this
Commonwealth each time that member initiates or receives a
communication with another member through the provider's
service.
(f) Additional disclosure.--If the online dating service
provider conducts criminal background checks and the provider
has a policy allowing a member who has been identified as having
a felony or sex offense conviction to have access to its service
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to communicate with any member in this Commonwealth, the
provider shall clearly and conspicuously disclose on any
communication to a member in this Commonwealth from the member
who has been identified as having a felony or sex offense
conviction, and on any web page that is seen by or transmitted
to a member in this Commonwealth that contains the personal
information for the member who has been identified as having a
felony or sex offense conviction and that is seen by or
communicated to a member in this Commonwealth, a disclosure that
shall read:
THIS PERSON HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS HAVING A FELONY OR SEX
OFFENSE CONVICTION.
Section 6. Provider policies.
An online dating service provider that conducts criminal
background checks shall establish an automatic electronic link
on its Internet website from any web page containing the
disclosure required by section 5(c) to a web page that provides
a safety awareness notification. The web page containing the
safety awareness notification shall be configured such that it
shall automatically appear each time a member makes the
electronic acknowledgment of the disclosure under section 5(c).
The member is required to make an electronic acknowledgment of
the safety awareness notification each time it appears and the
acknowledgment shall appear at the bottom of the web page
containing the notification. At a minimum, the safety awareness
notification shall provide the following:
(1) A statement that reads:
PERSONAL SAFETY AWARENESS NOTICE CAUTION: Before
allowing Pennsylvania members to communicate with other
members (Name of provider) initiates a criminal
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background check of available public records to determine
if any felony or sex offense convictions are identified
based on the name and other information we require of
members to create a profile. The purpose is to provide a
preliminary background screening for protection of our
members before they are permitted to begin communicating
directly with each other.
The criminal background checks for felony and sex
offense convictions are not foolproof and are not
intended to give members a false sense of security.
Criminal background checks are not a perfect safety
solution and criminals may circumvent even the most
sophisticated search technology.
Not all criminal records are public in all states and
not all databases are up to date. Only publicly available
felony and sex offense convictions are included in the
criminal background check, but criminal background checks
do not cover other convictions or arrests or any
convictions from foreign countries.
Anyone who is able to commit identity theft can also
falsify a dating profile.
There is no substitute for using good common sense
and acting with caution when communicating with any
stranger who wants to meet you.
(2) A list and description of safety measures reasonably
designed to increase awareness of safer dating practices as
determined by the provider.
Section 7. Application.
An online dating service provider that enrolls members from
Pennsylvania shall comply with this act.
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Section 8. Jurisdiction.
An online dating service provider that engages in the acts of
transmitting files over the Internet addressed to residents of
this Commonwealth and of accepting membership fees from
residents of this Commonwealth means that the online dating
service provider is operating, conducting, engaging in and
otherwise carrying on a business in this Commonwealth and
subjects itself to regulation by the Commonwealth and to the
jurisdiction of the courts of this Commonwealth.
Section 9. Violation of Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer
Protection Law.
A violation of this act constitutes an unfair method of
competition and unfair or deceptive act or practice within the
meaning of section 2(4) of the act of December 17, 1968
(P.L.1224, No.387), known as the Unfair Trade Practices and
Consumer Protection Law. Each failure to provide the required
disclosure constitutes a separate violation of that act.
Section 10. Civil penalties.
In addition to the remedy provided in this act and the act of
December 17, 1968 (P.L.1224, No.387), known as the Unfair Trade
Practices and Consumer Protection Law, the Attorney General may
bring an action and the court may impose a civil penalty of up
to $1,000 per violation, with an aggregate total not to exceed
$25,000 for any 24-hour period, against any online dating
service provider that violates any requirement of this act.
Section 11. Internet Dating Disclosure and Safety Awareness
Fund.
The Internet Dating Disclosure and Safety Awareness Fund is
established in the State Treasury. All civil monetary penalties
imposed as a result of any action filed under this act shall be
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deposited into the fund. Moneys in the fund shall be expended,
subject to appropriation, by the Office of Attorney General for
enforcement of this act.
Section 12. Exemptions.
(a) Intermediaries.--An Internet service provider does not
violate this act solely as a result of serving as an
intermediary for the transmission of electronic messages between
members of an online dating service provider. An Internet access
service or other Internet service provider shall not be
considered an online dating service provider within the meaning
of this act as to any online dating service Internet website
provided by another person or entity.
(b) Number of members.--An Internet service provider that
has fewer than 1,000 members is exempt from the requirements of
this act.
Section 13. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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