AB 1116, as amended, Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection. Connected televisions.
Existing law makes it a crime for a person who owns, controls, operates, or manages a satellite or cable television corporation to use an electronic device to record, transmit, or observe any events or listen to, record, or monitor any conversations that take place inside a subscriber’s residence, workplace, or place of business, without obtaining the express written consent of the subscriber. Existing law requires a device that includes an integrated and enabled wireless access point that is sold as new in the state for use in a small office, home office, or residential setting to be manufactured to possess certain features and advisories, including, among others, protection on the device that requires an affirmative action by the consumer prior to allowing use of the product and an advisory for the consumer regarding how to protect his or her wireless network connection from unauthorized access.
This bill would prohibit a connected television sold or leased in the state that is equipped with a voice recognition feature to use spoken words or other sounds for any purpose not essential to the function of the application for which the user enabled or utilized the voice recognition feature, and further prohibit a person from enabling or utilizing the voice recognition feature of a connected television without the consent of the user, as specified. This bill would require a connected television sold or leased in the state to be equipped with mechanisms to control the use of the voice recognition feature and indicate when it is collecting or transmitting spoken words or other sounds. This bill would define terms for its purposes. This bill would prohibit a waiver of these prohibitions and authorize their enforcement by injunction or civil penalty in a court of competent jurisdiction by the Attorney General or a district attorney. This bill specifies that its provisions shall not be deemed to create a private right ofbegin insert action end insertbegin insertor limit any existing private right ofend insert action. This bill would provide that these provisions are severable.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Chapter 35 (commencing with Section 22948.20)
2is added to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, to
3read:
4
(a) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a connected
8television sold or leased in the state that is equipped with a voice
9recognition feature shall not be used to collect, record, store,
10analyze, transmit, interpret, or otherwise use spoken words or other
11sounds for any purpose not essential to the function of the
12application for which the user enabled or utilized the voice
13recognition feature. Purposes not essential to the function of an
14application include, but are not limited to, advertising and the
15analysis of household conversations.
P3 1(b) (1) A person shall not enable or utilize the voice recognition
2feature of a connected television sold or
leased in the state without
3the consent of the user, as set forth in paragraph (2).
4(2) Consent shall be received by means of a separate notice that
5gives the user an opportunity to understand and choose the use of
6the voice recognition feature before it isbegin delete enabled, including, but begin insert enabled.end insert Consent
7not limited to, an interactive on-screen dialog.end delete
8shall only be required at the time the voice recognition feature is
9enabled, and not each time the user starts the voice recognition
10feature.
11(c) A connected television sold or leased in the state that is
12equipped with a voice recognition feature shall also be equipped
13with
all of the following:
14(1) A mechanism that requires a user to affirmatively choose
15the use of the voice recognition feature, including, but not limited
16to, a user setting.
17(2) A mechanism that allows a user to start and stop the voice
18recognition feature for the purpose of operating the connected
19television or using a specific software application on thebegin delete television, begin insert television.end insert
20including, but not limited to, a button or voice command.end delete
21(3) A mechanism that indicates to the user when the voice
22recognition feature is collecting or transmitting spoken
words or
23otherbegin delete sounds, including, but not limited to, a signal light.end deletebegin insert sounds.end insert
24(d) This section shall not apply to those products and services
25provided by companies covered by Section 637.5 of the Penal
26Code.
For purposes of this chapter, the following
28definitions shall apply:
29(a) “Connected television” means a device that can be connected
30to the Internet, receives television signals used to broadcast
31programs for entertainment, information, and education, and
32reproduces them on a screen, except that this term shall not include
33a personal computer, tablet,begin insert video game console,end insert or cellular
34telephone.
35(b) “Enable” means to take an affirmative action to make a voice
36recognition feature operational on a connected television.
37(c) “User” mean an individual who purchases, leases, or takes
38ownership of a connected television.
39(d) “Utilize” means to use a voice recognition feature that was
40previously enabled.
P4 1(e) “Voice recognition feature” means the function of a
2connected television that allows the collection, recording, storage,
3analysis, transmission, interpretation, or other use of spoken words
4or other sounds, except that this term shall not include voice
5commands that are not recorded or transmitted beyond the
6connected television.
Any waiver of the prohibitions in Section 22948.21
8is contrary to public policy and void and unenforceable.
(a) Actions for relief pursuant to this chapter may
10be prosecuted exclusively in a court of competent jurisdiction in
11a civil action brought in the name of the people of the State of
12California by the Attorney General or by any district attorney. This
13chapter shall not be deemed to create a private right ofbegin delete action.end delete
14begin insert action, or limit any existing private right of action.end insert
15(b) A court may enjoin a manufacturer that engages, has
16engaged, or proposes to engage, in a violation of this chapter. The
17court may
make any orders or judgments as may be necessary to
18prevent a violation of this chapter.
19(c) A manufacturer that engages, has engaged, or proposes to
20engage, in a violation of this chapter shall be liable for a civil
21penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500)
22for each connected television in violation of this chapter. If the
23action is brought by the Attorney General, the penalty shall be
24deposited into the General Fund. If the action is brought by a
25district attorney, the penalty shall be paid to the treasurer of the
26county in which the judgment was entered.
The remedies or penalties provided by this chapter
28are cumulative to each other and to the remedies or penalties
29available under all other laws of the state.
The provisions of this chapter are severable. If any
31provision of this chapter or its application are held to be invalid,
32that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that
33can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
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