§ 3010. — Mailing of sexually oriented advertisements.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 39USC3010]
TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
PART IV--MAIL MATTER
CHAPTER 30--NONMAILABLE MATTER
Sec. 3010. Mailing of sexually oriented advertisements
(a) Any person who mails or causes to be mailed any sexually
oriented advertisement shall place on the envelope or cover thereof his
name and address as the sender thereof and such mark or notice as the
Postal Service may prescribe.
(b) Any person, on his own behalf or on the behalf of any of his
children who has not attained the age of 19 years and who resides with
him or is under his care, custody, or supervision, may file with the
Postal Service a statement, in such form and manner as the Postal
Service may prescribe, that he desires to receive no sexually oriented
advertisements through the mails. The Postal Service shall maintain and
keep current, insofar as practicable, a list of the names and addresses
of such persons and shall make the list (including portions thereof or
changes therein) available to any person, upon such reasonable terms and
conditions as it may prescribe, including the payment of such service
charge as it determines to be necessary to defray the cost of compiling
and maintaining the list and making it available as provided in this
sentence. No person shall mail or cause to be mailed any sexually
oriented advertisement to any individual whose name and address has been
on the list for more than 30 days.
(c) No person shall sell, lease, lend, exchange, or license the use
of, or, except for the purpose expressly authorized by this section, use
any mailing list compiled in whole or in part from the list maintained
by the Postal Service pursuant to this section.
(d) ``Sexually oriented advertisement'' means any advertisement that
depicts, in actual or simulated form, or explicitly describes, in a
predominantly sexual context, human genitalia, any act of natural or
unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism, or any
other erotic subject directly related to the foregoing. Material
otherwise within the definition of this subsection shall be deemed not
to constitute a sexually oriented advertisement if it constitutes only a
small and insignificant part of the whole of a single catalog, book,
periodical, or other work the remainder of which is not primarily
devoted to sexual matters.
(Pub. L. 91-375, Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 749.)
Effective Date
Section effective first day of sixth month which begins after Aug.
12, 1970, see section 15(b) of Pub. L. 91-375, set out as a note
preceding section 101 of this title.
Invasion of Privacy by Mailing of Sexually Oriented Advertisements
Section 14 of Pub. L. 91-375 provided that:
``(a) [Congressional findings] The Congress finds--
``(1) that the United States mails are being used for the
indiscriminate dissemination of advertising matter so designed and
so presented as to exploit sexual sensationalism for commercial
gain;
``(2) that such matter is profoundly shocking and offensive to
many persons who receive it, unsolicited, through the mails;
``(3) that such use of the mails constitutes a serious threat to
the dignity and sanctity of the American home and subjects many
persons to an unconscionable and unwarranted intrusion upon their
fundamental personal right to privacy;
``(4) that such use of the mail reduces the ability of
responsible parents to protect their minor children from exposure to
material which they as parents believe to be harmful to the normal
and healthy ethical, mental, and social development of their
children; and
``(5) that the traffic in such offensive advertisements is so
large that individual citizens will be helpless to protect their
privacy or their families without stronger and more effective
Federal controls over the mailing of such matter.
``(b) [Congressional Determination of Public Policy] On the basis of
such findings, the Congress determines that it is contrary to the public
policy of the United States for the facilities and services of the
United States Postal Service to be used for the distribution of such
materials to persons who do not want their privacy invaded in this
manner or to persons who wish to protect their minor children from
exposure to such material.''
Provisions of section 14 of Pub. L. 91-375 effective within 1 year
after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by the Board of
Governors and published by it in the Federal Register, see section 15(a)
of Pub. L. 91-375, set out as an Effective Date not preceding section
101 of this title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 3011 of this title; title 18
sections 1735, 1736, 1737.
