Automatic Listening Exploitation Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4048 To limit the use, recording, or transmission of any speech or sound captured by a smart speaker, or any video or image captured by a video doorbell, and to prohibit, as an unfair or deceptive act or practice, such use, recording, or transmission without the express consent of the consumer. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Mr. MOULTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To limit the use, recording, or transmission of any speech or sound captured by a smart speaker, or any video or image captured by a video doorbell, and to prohibit, as an unfair or deceptive act or practice, such use, re- cording, or transmission without the express consent of the consumer. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Automatic Listening 4 Exploitation Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4048 IH SEC. 2. CONDUCT PROHIBITED. 1 (a) SMART SPEAKERS.—It shall be unlawful for a 2 person who provides any smart service through a propri- 3 etary smart speaker to— 4 (1) store or make a recording or transcript of 5 any speech or sound captured by a smart speaker 6 unless— 7 (A) the smart speaker is specifically acti- 8 vated to do so by detecting an audible wake 9 word or phrase that is known to the user; and 10 (B) the smart speaker first makes an audi- 11 ble response or visual indication upon activation 12 by such wake word or phrase; or 13 (2) use any storage or recording or transcript 14 of any voice interaction by a user with the voice-user 15 interface, or transmit such recording or transcript to 16 a third party, for any purpose— 17 (A) other than to— 18 (i) process a request and provide the 19 service the user is requesting; 20 (ii) improve the speech recognition 21 and natural language understanding of the 22 voice-user interface; or 23 (iii) help the voice-user interface to 24 adapt to speech patterns, vocabulary, and 25 personal preferences; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4048 IH (B) without— 1 (i) first providing to the user of the 2 smart speaker when the speaker is first set 3 up for use a clear and conspicuous notice, 4 set off from other text in any user agree- 5 ment, of the specific purpose or purposes 6 described in subparagraph (A); 7 (ii) first obtaining the express consent 8 of the user for that specific purpose; and 9 (iii) permitting the user of the smart 10 speaker to require the deletion of any re- 11 cording or transcript of any speech or 12 sound captured by a smart speaker of such 13 user at any time. 14 (b) VIDEO DOORBELLS.—It shall be unlawful for a 15 person who provides any security monitoring or other serv- 16 ice through a proprietary video doorbell to— 17 (1) store or make a recording of any video, 18 image, or audio captured by the video doorbell’s 19 camera unless— 20 (A) the video doorbell is specifically acti- 21 vated to do so when an individual presses the 22 button of the doorbell, or alternatively, when 23 the doorbell senses an individual at the doorstep 24 with its built-in motion sensors, or is activated 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4048 IH remotely by the user of the doorbell through the 1 user’s smartphone, computer, or similar inter- 2 net-enabled mobile device; and 3 (B) such video or image is provided to the 4 user of the video doorbell at the time such video 5 or image is captured; or 6 (2) use any storage or recording of any video, 7 image, or audio captured by the video doorbell’s 8 camera, or transmit such recording to a third party, 9 for any purpose— 10 (A) other than to provide the video, image, 11 or audio to the user of the video doorbell or to 12 allow the user using a smartphone, computer, 13 or other internet-enabled device to watch and 14 talk with a guest at the door by using the 15 doorbell’s built-in camera and microphone; and 16 (B) without— 17 (i) first providing to the user of the 18 video doorbell when the video doorbell is 19 first set up for use a clear and conspicuous 20 notice, set off from other text in any user 21 agreement, of the specific purpose or pur- 22 poses described in subparagraph (A); 23 (ii) first obtaining the express consent 24 of the user for that specific purpose; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4048 IH (iii) permitting the user of the video 1 doorbell to require the deletion of any re- 2 cording of any video or image captured by 3 the video doorbell’s camera of such user at 4 any time. 5 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 6 (a) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.— 7 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACT OR PRAC- 8 TICE.—A violation of a section 2 shall be treated as 9 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 10 act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 11 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 12 57a(a)(1)(B)). 13 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Federal 14 Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the same 15 manner, by the same means, and with the same ju- 16 risdiction, powers, and duties as though all applica- 17 ble terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Com- 18 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor- 19 porated into and made a part of this Act. Any per- 20 son who violates section 2 shall be subject to the 21 penalties and entitled to the privileges and immuni- 22 ties provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act 23 (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4048 IH (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN- 1 ERAL.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the attorney general of a 3 State, or an official or agency designated by a State, 4 has reason to believe that any person has violated or 5 is violating this Act, the attorney general, or other 6 official or agency of the State, in addition to any au- 7 thority it may have to bring an action in State court 8 under its consumer protection law, may bring a civil 9 action in any appropriate United States district 10 court or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, 11 including a State court, to— 12 (A) enjoin further such violation by the de- 13 fendant; 14 (B) enforce compliance with this Act; or 15 (C) obtain civil penalties not to exceed 16 $40,000 per violation. 17 (2) NOTICE AND INTERVENTION BY THE 18 FTC.—The attorney general of a State shall provide 19 prior written notice of any action under paragraph 20 (1) to the Federal Trade Commission and provide 21 the Commission with a copy of the complaint in the 22 action, except in any case in which such prior notice 23 is not feasible, in which case the attorney general 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4048 IH shall serve such notice immediately upon instituting 1 such action. The Commission shall have the right— 2 (A) to intervene in the action; 3 (B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all 4 matters arising therein; and 5 (C) to file petitions for appeal. 6 (3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED- 7 ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Federal Trade 8 Commission has instituted a civil action for violation 9 of this Act, no State attorney general, or official or 10 agency of a State, may bring an action under para- 11 graph (1) during the pendency of the action initiated 12 by the Commission against any defendant named in 13 the complaint of the Commission for any violation of 14 this Act alleged in the complaint. 15 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 16 As used in this Act, the following definitions apply: 17 (1) The term ‘‘Internet-enabled’’ means, with 18 respect to an electronic device, that the device can 19 connect to the Internet directly or through another 20 device. 21 (2) The term ‘‘person’’ means any individual, 22 partnership, corporation, trust, estate, cooperative, 23 association, or other entity. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4048 IH (3) The term ‘‘smart service’’ means any serv- 1 ice provided to a consumer using a smart speaker, 2 such as Internet content streaming services or vir- 3 tual assistant services. 4 (4) The term ‘‘smart speaker’’ means an Inter- 5 net-enabled electronic device that can be controlled 6 through a voice-user interface that provides a smart 7 service to a user. 8 (5) The term ‘‘user’’ means— 9 (A) an individual who uses or interacts 10 with a smart speaker using spoken or other 11 commands; or 12 (B) an individual who is provided images 13 or audio captured by, or the ability to interact 14 with, a video doorbell through the user’s smart- 15 phone, tablet computer, or similar Internet-en- 16 abled mobile device. 17 (6) The term ‘‘video doorbell’’ means an Inter- 18 net-enabled doorbell, equipped with a camera or 19 microphone, or both, that— 20 (A) notifies the smartphone, computer, or 21 similar Internet-enabled mobile device of a user 22 when a guest arrives to the entrance of the 23 door; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4048 IH (B) is activated when the guest presses the 1 button of the doorbell, or alternatively, when 2 the doorbell senses a guest with its built-in mo- 3 tion sensors, or activate remotely by the user of 4 the doorbell through the user’s smartphone, 5 computer, or similar Internet-enabled mobile 6 device; and 7 (C) may allow the user using the 8 smartphone, computer, or other Internet-en- 9 abled device to watch and talk with the guest 10 by using the doorbell’s built-in camera and 11 microphone. 12 (7) The term ‘‘voice-user interface’’ is a speech 13 recognition technology that understands spoken com- 14 mands and questions to allow people to communicate 15 with a computer or smart speaker. 16 (8) The term ‘‘wake word or phrase’’ means a 17 spoken word or phrase that triggers the voice-user 18 interface on a smart speaker to listen for user com- 19 mands or queries. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:00 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4048.IH H4048 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS