District 2 state Rep. Steve Tarvin, R-Chickamauga, is one of six sponsors of proposed legislation seeking a Georgia code amendment pertaining to “internet safety.”
House Bill 910 was introduced during the 2024 Georgia General Assembly session on Jan. 12. The bill was subsequently passed on to the House Judiciary Committee.
“Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on a website that contains a substantial portion of such material shall verify the age of the individuals attempting to access such material,” the latest iteration of the bill text reads.
HB 910 would allow parents or guardians to seek civil damages against “commercial entities” that do not engage in age verification practices.
As written, the bill indicates that age verification would be done through “a commercially available database that is regularly used by businesses or governmental entities for the purpose of age and identity verification” or “another commercially reasonable method of age and identity verification.”
The bill, sponsored by half a dozen Republican lawmakers, does not explicitly define what types of online material would constitute “harmful to minors.”
The text, however, indicates that exemptions would apply for “any bona fide news or public interest broadcast, website, video, report or event” and “shall not be construed to affect the rights of any news-gathering organization.”
The bill text indicates that no internet service provider, search engine or cloud service provider will be in “violation” of the provisions “solely for providing access or connection to or from a website or other information or content on the internet or a facility, system or network not under the control of that provider.”
One provision of the bill would prohibit commercial entities or third parties from retaining “any identifying information” stemming from a “reasonable age verification” check.
“A commercial entity or third party that performs the required age verification on behalf of the commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained identifying information of an individual after access to the material has been granted is liable to such individual for damages resulting from retaining the identifying information,” the text reads. “Including court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees as ordered by the court.”
Tarvin is also a backer of House Bill 922, which was sent to the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee on Jan. 12.
That bill would tweak Georgia code pertaining to what constitutes criminal trespass and damage to property.
“A person commits the offense of criminal trespass when he or she knowingly and without authority … enters upon the land or premises of another person or into any part of any vehicle, railroad car, aircraft or watercraft of another person without consent of the owner or rightful occupant,” the proposed text amendment reads.