California Committee Commands TVs to Protect Privacy

The California State Assembly's Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee has approved a bill 11 to 0 to make sure consumers have control over the voice-recognition feature in newer TVs that can allow their conversations to be shared with third parties to determine their personal tastes. That is according to Committee Chairman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale), who sponsored the bill He said that the bill will require that a TV's voice-recognition feature can't be enabled without the consumer’s knowledge and consent and prohibits manufacturers from using recorded sounds for other than the use approved by the consumer. That way, says Chairman Gatto, it preserves the voice-command function, but would prevent the scenario of a family "discussing financial issues and finding themselves receiving targeted commercials from bankruptcy attorneys as they watch their favorite show.”

“A family’s home is their castle. Yet new technologies have breached the walls, and now even a family’s most private moments are at risk from the Big Data hordes,” said Chairman Gatto. “AB 1116 will give the consumer the ability to personally determine the level of privacy protections inside their home. We’re not trying to stymie technological advances or fetter profit margins. The television industry has survived for nearly 100 years without knowing what I said to my wife during an episode of The Bachelor.”