The State Assembly passed a bill today to prohibit smart speakers and manufacturers from collecting voice recordings without a user’s consent.
Assembly Bill 1395, authored by Jordan Cunningham, states that any “actual recordings or transcriptions” retained by a manufacturer or third party would be against the law.
“Private conversations in the home should remain private, and no company should have the ability to record these conversations without consent,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham said in an editorial in The San Fransisco Chronicle that the bill would give users the ability to “own” their own data.
He also said it would require companies to disclose a data breach within 72 hours. The bill also stops companies from mining recorded data with a code of Business and Professions.
The bill had bi-partisan support in the assembly. Its opponents said that while they support restrictions on data sharing, new limits could affect a device’s functionality.
