Illinois bill banning eavesdropping by IoT devices defanged by tech lobby

guest · Apr 11, 2019

Illinois bill banning eavesdropping by IoT devices defanged by tech lobby
Lobbyists: Bill would punish even if failure to disclose was "accidental."
April 11, 2019
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...opping-by-iot-devices-defanged-by-tech-lobby/

On April 10, the Illinois State Senate passed the "Keep Internet Devices Safe Act," a bill that would ban Internet device manufacturers from collecting audio from Internet-connected devices without disclosing it to consumers. But the bill was substantially neutered after a fierce lobbying effort by an industry association backed by Amazon and Google.

The bill also requires that any recordings and other personal information captured by devices protect against "unauthorized access, acquisition, destruction, use, modification, and disclosure" of the data.

The original bill would have made collection of audio by an Internet device "an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act."
That changed after a lobbying push by the Internet Association—an effort picked up on by Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute:
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Well, this is interesting. Apparently Amazon and Google came out swinging against this Illinois bill saying a company is not allowed to remotely turn on a microphone without the owner’s permission. https://t.co/4xs7rsU72A
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 10, 2019

[...] complaining that it would create "significant legal liability for companies" because it "allows a path to private litigation which can lead to frivolous class action litigation against Illinois businesses of all sizes."

The lobbyists also complained that the bill would allow for "company terms of service agreements to be void and unenforceable even if a failure to disclose [recording] is accidental."
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reasonablePrivacy · Apr 12, 2019

mood said: ↑

The lobbyists also complained that the bill would allow for "company terms of service agreements to be void and unenforceable even if a failure to disclose [recording] is accidental."
Click to expand...

Well, it is quite hard for consumers to prove that eavesdropping by tech giants was not accidental, so it is reasonable assumption.

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Illinois bill banning eavesdropping by IoT devices defanged by tech lobby

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