I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4048 

To direct the Federal Trade Commission to promulgate regulations prohibiting 

mobile applications from accessing certain content and functions of a 

mobile device when such applications are not actively in use unless 

the user is provided with a disclosure of such access and grants affirmative express consent to such access. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2014 

Mr. DUFFY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Trade Commission to promulgate regulations prohibiting mobile applications from accessing 

certain content and functions of a mobile device when 

such applications are not actively in use unless the user 

is provided with a disclosure of such access and grants 

affirmative express consent to such access. 

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 ‘‘Securing Our Nation’s 

5 Application Privacy Act of 2014’’ or the ‘‘SNAP Act of 

6 2014’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. ACCESS BY MOBILE APPLICATIONS TO CERTAIN DE2 VICE CONTENT AND FUNCTIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Com5 mission shall promulgate regulations in accordance with 

6 section 553 of title 5, United States Code, that require— 

7 (1) any person who develops, sells or offers for 

8 sale, or otherwise makes available to consumers a 

9 mobile application to ensure that the application 

10 does not access any content or functions described in 

11 subsection (b) while the application is not actively in 

12 use, unless— 

13 (A) the application triggers the disclosure 

14 and consent functions of the mobile platform or 

15 operating system described in paragraph (2); 

16 and 

17 (B) the user grants affirmative express 

18 consent as described in such paragraph; and 

19 (2) any person who develops, sells or offers for 

20 sale, or otherwise makes available to consumers a 

21 mobile platform or operating system to ensure that 

22 the mobile platform or operating system— 

23 (A) immediately before any mobile applica24 tion that is installed on the mobile device and 

25 that is not actively in use accesses any content 

26 or functions described in subsection (b), promstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 vides the user of the device with a disclosure of 

2 such access and the opportunity to grant af3 firmative express consent to such access or to 

4 deny such access; and 

5 (B) prevents the application from engaging 

6 in such access unless the user of the device 

7 grants such affirmative express consent. 

8 (b) CONTENT DESCRIBED.—The content and func9 tions described in this subsection are the following: 

10 (1) Information about the geographic location 

11 of the device. 

12 (2) Contact information of individuals stored on 

13 the device. 

14 (3) Photographs, video recordings, or audio re15 cordings stored on the device. 

16 (4) Events or notations stored in a calendar ap17 plication (or an application with calendar functions) 

18 on the device. 

19 (5) A camera of the device or any information 

20 obtained from such a camera. 

21 (6) A microphone of the device or any informa22 tion obtained from such a microphone. 

23 (7) Such additional content or functions speci24 fied by the Federal Trade Commission in the regula25 tions promulgated under subsection (a) as the Commstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 mission considers necessary to protect the privacy of 

2 users of mobile devices. 

3 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 

4 (a) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 

5 A violation of a regulation promulgated under section 2 

6 shall be treated as a violation of a regulation under section 

7 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

8 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts 

9 or practices. 

10 (b) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Federal Trade 

11 Commission shall enforce the regulations promulgated 

12 under section 2 in the same manner, by the same means, 

13 and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as 

14 though all applicable terms and provisions of the Federal 

15 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor16 porated into and made a part of this Act. Any person who 

17 violates such a regulation shall be subject to the penalties 

18 and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in 

19 the Federal Trade Commission Act. 

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) ACTIVELY IN USE.—The term ‘‘actively in 

23 use’’ means, with respect to a mobile application, 

24 that— 

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1 (A) the application is operating in accord2 ance with the terms of service provided by the 

3 developer of the application to the user of the 

4 mobile device; and 

5 (B) the user of the mobile device is inter6 acting with the application or the application is 

7 otherwise operating in a manner such that a 

8 user of ordinary technical expertise and experi9 ence would consider the application to be active, 

10 open, or running. 

11 (2) MOBILE APPLICATION.—The term ‘‘mobile 

12 application’’ means a software program that runs on 

13 the mobile platform or operating system of a mobile 

14 device. 

15 (3) MOBILE DEVICE.—The term ‘‘mobile de16 vice’’ means a smartphone, tablet computer, or simi17 lar portable computing device that transmits data 

18 over a wireless connection. 

19 (4) MOBILE PLATFORM OR OPERATING SYS20 TEM.—The term ‘‘mobile platform or operating sys21 tem’’ means the software that enables the basic 

22 functionality of a mobile device and the installation 

23 and use of mobile applications on the device. 

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