BILL NUMBER: AB 319	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Campos

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2013

   An act to add Chapter 22.1 (commencing with Section 22580) to
Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to privacy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 319, as introduced, Campos. Internet Web sites and online
services: minors.
   Existing law requires an operator of a commercial Web site or
online service that collects personally identifiable information
through the Internet about individual consumers residing in
California who use or visit its commercial Web site or online service
to make its privacy policy available to the consumers, as specified.

   This bill would require an operator of an Internet Web site or
online service directed to minors and the operator of an Internet Web
site or online service that has actual knowledge that it is
collecting personal information from a minor to provide notice on the
Internet Web site of what information is collected from minors by
the operator and how the operator uses the information. The bill
would require the operator to provide specified information to the
parent of a minor that has provided personal information to the
Internet Web site or online service and to provide the parent with
the opportunity to refuse to permit the operator's further use or
future collection of personal information from the minor. The bill
would prohibit an operator from conditioning a minor's participation
in specified activities upon disclosure of more information than is
reasonably necessary. The bill would require the operator of an
Internet Web site or online service directed to minors to establish
and maintain reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality,
security, and integrity of personal information collected from
minors.
   Existing law specifies penalties for unfair competition, which
includes an unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice
and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising. A civil
action for enforcement of the prohibition on unfair competition may
be brought in the name of the people of the state by the Attorney
General, by any district attorney, by any county counsel authorized
in actions involving violation of a county ordinance, by any city
attorney of a city having a population in excess of 750,000, by any
city attorney of any city and county, or, with the consent of the
district attorney, by a city prosecutor in any city having a
full-time city prosecutor, in any court of competent jurisdiction, or
by a person who has suffered injury in fact and has lost money or
property as a result of the unfair competition.
   This bill would make a violation of its provisions regulating
operators of Internet Web sites and online services subject to
enforcement under these provisions prohibiting unfair competition.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Chapter 22.1 (commencing with Section 22580) is added
to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 22.1.  CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION


   22580.  For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
   (a) "Minor" means a person under 18 years of age.
   (b) "Operator" means a person that operates an online service or a
Web site located on the Internet and that collects or maintains
personal information from or about the users of, or visitors to, the
Internet Web site or online service or on whose behalf the
information is collected or maintained.
   (c) "Disclosure" means both of the following:
   (1) The release of personal information collected from a minor in
identifiable form by an operator for any purpose, except where the
information is provided to a person other than the operator that
provides support for the internal operations of the Internet Web site
and does not disclose or use that information for any other purpose.

   (2) Making personal information collected from a minor by an
Internet Web site or online service directed to minors or with actual
knowledge that such information was collected from a minor publicly
available in identifiable form by any means, including by a public
posting, through the Internet, or through a homepage of an Internet
Web site, a pen pal service, an email service, a message board, or a
chat room.
   (d) "Personal information" means individually identifiable
information about an individual collected online, including a first
and last name, a home or other physical address including street name
and name of a city or town, an email address, a telephone number, a
social security number, any other identifier that the department
determines permits the physical or online contacting of a specific
individual, or information concerning the minor or the parents of
that minor that the Internet Web site collects online from the minor
and combines with an identifier described in this paragraph.
   (e) "Internet Web site or online service directed to minors" means
an Internet Web site or online service that is targeted to minors or
that portion of an Internet Web site or online service that is
targeted to minors. An Internet Web site or online service, or a
portion of an Internet Web site or online service, shall not be
deemed directed to minors solely for referring to or linking to a
commercial Internet Web site or online service directed to minors by
using information location tools, including a directory, index,
reference, pointer, or hypertext link.
   (f) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation,
trust, estate, cooperative, association, or other entity.
   (g) "Online contact information" means an email address or another
substantially similar identifier that permits direct contact with a
person online.
   22581.  (a) It is unlawful for an operator of an Internet Web site
or online service directed to minors or an operator that has actual
knowledge that it is collecting personal information from a minor to
collect personal information from a minor in a manner that violates
any of the following:
   (1) An operator of an Internet Web site or online service directed
to minors that collects personal information from minors and the
operator of an Internet Web site or online service that has actual
knowledge that it is collecting personal information from a minor
shall provide notice on the Internet Web site of what information is
collected from minors by the operator and how the operator uses the
information.
   (2) An operator shall provide to a parent whose minor dependent
has provided personal information to an Internet Web site or online
service, upon request of the parent and proper identification, a
description of the specific types of personal information collected
from the minor by the operator, the opportunity at any time to refuse
to permit the operator's further use or maintenance in retrievable
form, or future online collection, of personal information from the
minor, and a means that is reasonable under the circumstances for the
parent to obtain personal information collected from the minor.
   (3) A minor's participation in a game, the offering of a prize, or
another activity shall not be conditioned on the minor disclosing
more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate
in the activity.
   (4) An operator of an Internet Web site or online service directed
to minors shall establish and maintain reasonable procedures to
protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal
information collected from minors.
   (b) A violation of this section shall be treated as unfair
competition and subject to the penalties imposed under Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 17200) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the
Business and Professions Code.