To amend Part 2 of Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title l6 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to offenses related to minors generally, so as to define the crime of electronically furnishing obscene material to minors; to define certain terms; to provide a penalty; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

Section 1.

16-12-100.1.

(a) As used in this Code section, the term:

• (1) Bulletin board systems' means a computer data and file service that is accessed by telephone line to store and transmit information.

• (2) 'CD-ROM' means a compact disc with read only memory which has the capacity to store audio, video, and written materials and is used by computers to reveal the above-said material.

• (3) 'Electronically furnishes' means:
  • (A) To make available by electronic storage device, including floppy disks and other magnetic storage devices, or by CD-ROM; or
  • (B) To make available by allowing access to information stored in a computer, including making material available by operating a computer bulletin board.

• (4) 'Harmful to minors' means that quality of description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse when it:
  • (A) Taken as a whole, predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful, or morbid interest of minors;
  • (B) Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and
  • (C) Is, when taken as a whole, lacking in serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

• (5) 'Minor' means an unmarried person younger than 18 years of age.

• (6) 'Sadomasochistic abuse' means flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments or in revealing or bizarre costume or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of one so clothed.

• (7) 'Sexual conduct' means human masturbation, sexual intercourse, or and touching of the genitals, pubic areas, or buttocks of the human male or female or the breasts of the female, whether alone or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification.

• (8) 'Sexual excitement' means the condition of human male or female genitals or the breasts of the female when in a state of sexual stimulation.

(b) A person commits the crime of electronically furnishing obscene materials to minors if:

• (1) Knowing or having good reason to know the character of the material furnished, the person electronically furnishes to an individual whom the person knows or should have known is a minor:
  • (A) Any picture, photograph, drawing, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of a human body which depicts sexually explicit nudity, sexual conduct, or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors; or
  • (B) Any written or aural matter that contains material of the nature described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph or contains explicit verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse;

• (2) The offensive portions of the material electronically furnished to the minor are not merely an incidental part of an otherwise nonoffending whole;

• (3) The material furnished to the minor, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value; and

• (4) The material furnished to the minor, taken as a whole, is harmful to minors in that it appeals to and incites prurient interest.

(c) Any person who violates this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature."

Section 2.