Online Safety Modernization Act of 2017

Online Safety Modernization Act of 2017

This bill amends the federal criminal code to establish new crimes for using the mail or another facility of interstate or foreign commerce to knowingly engage in the following conduct:

• coercion of sexual acts, of sexual contact, or of the production of sexually explicit visual depictions;
• coercion or extortion involving threats to publish sexually explicit visual depictions;
• reporting of false or misleading information to cause an emergency law enforcement response; or
• publication of personally identifiable information of another person to threaten, intimidate, harass, or cause other harm.

Additionally, the bill directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to:

• develop a national strategy to reduce, investigate, and prosecute cybercrimes against individuals;
• publish statistics on cybercrimes against individuals;
• add operational agents, designate federal prosecutors, and implement training to improve the investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes against individuals;
• make state and local grants to prevent, enforce, and prosecute cybercrimes against individuals; and
• make a grant to establish and maintain the National Resource Center on Cybercrimes Against Individuals.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) must create a category, in the Uniform Crime Reports, for an offense that constitutes a cybercrime against individuals.

Finally, the bill authorizes additional funding for the FBI and DOJ to hire and train law enforcement officers to investigate and assist in the prosecution of cybercrimes against individuals.