1. (a) In General.— Except as provided in subsection (b), a civil claim or criminal charge against a provider or domain name registrar, including any director, officer, employee, or agent of such provider or domain name registrar arising from the performance of the reporting or preservation responsibilities of such provider or domain name registrar under this section, section 2258A, or section 2258C may not be brought in any Federal or State court.

2. (b) Intentional, Reckless, or Other Misconduct.— Subsection (a) shall not apply to a claim if the provider or domain name registrar, or a director, officer, employee, or agent of that provider or domain name registrar—

   1. (1) engaged in intentional misconduct; or

   2. (2) acted, or failed to act—

      1. (A) with actual malice;
      2. (B) with reckless disregard to a substantial risk of causing physical injury without legal justification; or
      3. (C) for a purpose unrelated to the performance of any responsibility or function under this section,¹ sections 2258A, 2258C, 2702, or 2703.

3. (c) Minimizing Access.— A provider and domain name registrar shall—

   1. (1) minimize the number of employees that are provided access to any visual depiction provided under section 2258A or 2258C; and
   2. (2) ensure that any such visual depiction is permanently destroyed, upon a request from a law enforcement agency to destroy the visual depiction.

(Added Pub. L. 110–401, title V, § 501(a), Oct. 13, 2008, 122 Stat. 4248; amended Pub. L. 115–395, § 3, Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat. 5292.)

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–395, § 3(1), substituted “providers, or domain name registrars” for “electronic communication service providers, remote computing service providers, or domain name registrar” in section catchline.

Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–395, § 3(2), substituted “a provider” for “an electronic communication service provider, a remote computing service provider,” and substituted “such provider” for “such electronic communication service provider, remote computing service provider,” in two places.

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–395, § 3(3), substituted “provider” for “electronic communication service provider, remote computing service provider,” in two places in introductory provisions.

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–395, § 3(4), substituted “A provider” for “An electronic communication service provider, a remote computing service provider,” in introductory provisions and “visual depiction” for “image” wherever appearing in pars. (1) and (2).

¹ So in original. The comma probably should be “or”.