Online Parental Control Act of 1996
Official title: To amend the Communications Act of 1934 in order to provide parents with greater control of their children's access to online material.
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Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance.
Online Parental Control Act of 1996 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the use of a telephone for making communications that are harmful to minors (currently, indecent). Prohibits the use of an interactive computer service to send or make available to any person under 18 years of age a communication that is harmful to minors. (Current law prohibits any such communication that depicts or describes, in patently offensive terms, sexual or excretory activities or organs.) Defines "harmful to minors" for purposes of such changes.
Protects from Federal communications indecency laws any person who in good faith: (1) labeled the communication as inappropriate for minors; (2) placed such communications in a segregated access site identified as inappropriate for minors; (3) otherwise established a mechanism for enabling such communication to be automatically blocked or screened; or (4) installed or provided some device, system, or method that allows adults to prevent access to such communications by minors. Protects from criminal or civil liability under State law any provider or user of an interactive computer service, information content provider, or access software provider that takes one of the above steps.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 3089: Online Parental Control Act of 1996. 104th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3089/
"H.R. 3089: Online Parental Control Act of 1996." 104th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3089/.
H.R. 3089, 104th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3089/.
[H.R. 3089: Online Parental Control Act of 1996](https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3089/)