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, recording, or transmission without the express consent of 

the consumer. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Automatic Listening 

5 Exploitation Act of 2019’’. 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4048 IH

1 SEC. 2. CONDUCT PROHIBITED. 

2 (a) SMART SPEAKERS.—It shall be unlawful for a 

3 person who provides any smart service through a propri4 etary smart speaker to— 

5 (1) store or make a recording or transcript of 

6 any speech or sound captured by a smart speaker 

7 unless— 

8 (A) the smart speaker is specifically acti9 vated to do so by detecting an audible wake 

10 word or phrase that is known to the user; and 

11 (B) the smart speaker first makes an audi12 ble response or visual indication upon activation 

13 by such wake word or phrase; or 

14 (2) use any storage or recording or transcript 

15 of any voice interaction by a user with the voice-user 

16 interface, or transmit such recording or transcript to 

17 a third party, for any purpose— 

18 (A) other than to— 

19 (i) process a request and provide the 

20 service the user is requesting; 

21 (ii) improve the speech recognition 

22 and natural language understanding of the 

23 voice-user interface; or 

24 (iii) help the voice-user interface to 

25 adapt to speech patterns, vocabulary, and 

26 personal preferences; and 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4048 IH

1 (B) without— 

2 (i) first providing to the user of the 

3 smart speaker when the speaker is first set 

4 up for use a clear and conspicuous notice, 

5 set off from other text in any user agree6 ment, of the specific purpose or purposes 

7 described in subparagraph (A); 

8 (ii) first obtaining the express consent 

9 of the user for that specific purpose; and 

10 (iii) permitting the user of the smart 

11 speaker to require the deletion of any re12 cording or transcript of any speech or 

13 sound captured by a smart speaker of such 

14 user at any time. 

15 (b) VIDEO DOORBELLS.—It shall be unlawful for a 

16 person who provides any security monitoring or other serv17 ice through a proprietary video doorbell to— 

18 (1) store or make a recording of any video, 

19 image, or audio captured by the video doorbell’s 

20 camera unless— 

21 (A) the video doorbell is specifically acti22 vated to do so when an individual presses the 

23 button of the doorbell, or alternatively, when 

24 the doorbell senses an individual at the doorstep 

25 with its built-in motion sensors, or is activated 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4048 IH

1 remotely by the user of the doorbell through the 

2 user’s smartphone, computer, or similar inter3 net-enabled mobile device; and 

4 (B) such video or image is provided to the 

5 user of the video doorbell at the time such video 

6 or image is captured; or 

7 (2) use any storage or recording of any video, 

8 image, or audio captured by the video doorbell’s 

9 camera, or transmit such recording to a third party, 

10 for any purpose— 

11 (A) other than to provide the video, image, 

12 or audio to the user of the video doorbell or to 

13 allow the user using a smartphone, computer, 

14 or other internet-enabled device to watch and 

15 talk with a guest at the door by using the 

16 doorbell’s built-in camera and microphone; and 

17 (B) without— 

18 (i) first providing to the user of the 

19 video doorbell when the video doorbell is 

20 first set up for use a clear and conspicuous 

21 notice, set off from other text in any user 

22 agreement, of the specific purpose or pur23 poses described in subparagraph (A); 

24 (ii) first obtaining the express consent 

25 of the user for that specific purpose; and 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4048 IH

1 (iii) permitting the user of the video 

2 doorbell to require the deletion of any re3 cording of any video or image captured by 

4 the video doorbell’s camera of such user at 

5 any time. 

6 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 

7 (a) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.— 

8 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACT OR PRAC9 TICE.—A violation of a section 2 shall be treated as 

10 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 

11 act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 

12 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 

13 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

14 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Federal 

15 Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the same 

16 manner, by the same means, and with the same ju17 risdiction, powers, and duties as though all applica18 ble terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Com19 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor20 porated into and made a part of this Act. Any per21 son who violates section 2 shall be subject to the 

22 penalties and entitled to the privileges and immuni23 ties provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act 

24 (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4048 IH

1 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN2 ERAL.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the attorney general of a 

4 State, or an official or agency designated by a State, 

5 has reason to believe that any person has violated or 

6 is violating this Act, the attorney general, or other 

7 official or agency of the State, in addition to any au8 thority it may have to bring an action in State court 

9 under its consumer protection law, may bring a civil 

10 action in any appropriate United States district 

11 court or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, 

12 including a State court, to— 

13 (A) enjoin further such violation by the de14 fendant; 

15 (B) enforce compliance with this Act; or 

16 (C) obtain civil penalties not to exceed 

17 $40,000 per violation. 

18 (2) NOTICE AND INTERVENTION BY THE

19 FTC.—The attorney general of a State shall provide 

20 prior written notice of any action under paragraph 

21 (1) to the Federal Trade Commission and provide 

22 the Commission with a copy of the complaint in the 

23 action, except in any case in which such prior notice 

24 is not feasible, in which case the attorney general 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4048 IH

1 shall serve such notice immediately upon instituting 

2 such action. The Commission shall have the right— 

3 (A) to intervene in the action; 

4 (B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all 

5 matters arising therein; and 

6 (C) to file petitions for appeal. 

7 (3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED8 ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Federal Trade 

9 Commission has instituted a civil action for violation 

10 of this Act, no State attorney general, or official or 

11 agency of a State, may bring an action under para12 graph (1) during the pendency of the action initiated 

13 by the Commission against any defendant named in 

14 the complaint of the Commission for any violation of 

15 this Act alleged in the complaint. 

16 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

17 As used in this Act, the following definitions apply: 

18 (1) The term ‘‘Internet-enabled’’ means, with 

19 respect to an electronic device, that the device can 

20 connect to the Internet directly or through another 

21 device. 

22 (2) The term ‘‘person’’ means any individual, 

23 partnership, corporation, trust, estate, cooperative, 

24 association, or other entity. 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4048 IH

1 (3) The term ‘‘smart service’’ means any serv2 ice provided to a consumer using a smart speaker, 

3 such as Internet content streaming services or vir4 tual assistant services. 

5 (4) The term ‘‘smart speaker’’ means an Inter6 net-enabled electronic device that can be controlled 

7 through a voice-user interface that provides a smart 

8 service to a user. 

9 (5) The term ‘‘user’’ means— 

10 (A) an individual who uses or interacts 

11 with a smart speaker using spoken or other 

12 commands; or 

13 (B) an individual who is provided images 

14 or audio captured by, or the ability to interact 

15 with, a video doorbell through the user’s smart16 phone, tablet computer, or similar Internet-en17 abled mobile device. 

18 (6) The term ‘‘video doorbell’’ means an Inter19 net-enabled doorbell, equipped with a camera or 

20 microphone, or both, that— 

21 (A) notifies the smartphone, computer, or 

22 similar Internet-enabled mobile device of a user 

23 when a guest arrives to the entrance of the 

24 door; 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 4048 IH

1 (B) is activated when the guest presses the 

2 button of the doorbell, or alternatively, when 

3 the doorbell senses a guest with its built-in mo4 tion sensors, or activate remotely by the user of 

5 the doorbell through the user’s smartphone, 

6 computer, or similar Internet-enabled mobile 

7 device; and 

8 (C) may allow the user using the 

9 smartphone, computer, or other Internet-en10 abled device to watch and talk with the guest 

11 by using the doorbell’s built-in camera and 

12 microphone. 

13 (7) The term ‘‘voice-user interface’’ is a speech 

14 recognition technology that understands spoken com15 mands and questions to allow people to communicate 

16 with a computer or smart speaker. 

17 (8) The term ‘‘wake word or phrase’’ means a 

18 spoken word or phrase that triggers the voice-user 

19 interface on a smart speaker to listen for user com20 mands or queries. 

Æ 


khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS