I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 859
To require the disclosure of a camera or recording capability in certain
internet-connected devices.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2025
Mr. F
ULCHER(for himself and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To require the disclosure of a camera or recording capability
in certain internet-connected devices.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Informing Consumers 4
about Smart Devices Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE OF A CAMERA OR RECORD-6
ING CAPABILITY IN CERTAIN INTERNET-CON-7
NECTED DEVICES. 8
Each manufacturer of a covered device shall disclose, 9
clearly and conspicuously and prior to purchase, whether 10
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the covered device manufactured by the manufacturer con-1
tains a camera or microphone as a component of the cov-2
ered device. 3
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS-4
SION. 5
(a) U
NFAIR ORDECEPTIVEACTS ORPRACTICES.— 6
A violation of section 2 shall be treated as a violation of 7
a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice pre-8
scribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade 9
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 10
(b) A
CTIONS BY THECOMMISSION.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Commis-12
sion (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) 13
shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by the 14
same means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, 15
and duties as though all applicable terms and provi-16
sions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 17
U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and made 18
a part of this Act. 19
(2) P
ENALTIES AND PRIVILEGES .—Any person 20
who violates this Act or a regulation promulgated 21
under this Act shall be subject to the penalties and 22
entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in 23
the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 24
seq.). 25
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(3) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this Act 1
shall be construed to limit the authority of the Com-2
mission under any other provision of law. 3
(c) C
OMMISSIONGUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 4
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis-5
sion, through outreach to relevant private entities, shall 6
issue guidance to assist manufacturers in complying with 7
the requirements of this Act, including guidance about 8
best practices for making the disclosure required by sec-9
tion 2 as clear and conspicuous and age appropriate as 10
practicable and about best practices for the use of a pic-11
torial (as defined in section 2(a) of the Consumer Review 12
Fairness Act of 2016 (15 U.S.C. 45b(a))) visual represen-13
tation of the information to be disclosed. 14
(d) T
AILOREDGUIDANCE.—A manufacturer of a cov-15
ered device may petition the Commission for tailored guid-16
ance as to how to meet the requirements of section 2 con-17
sistent with existing rules of practice or any successor 18
rules. 19
(e) L
IMITATION ON COMMISSIONGUIDANCE.—No 20
guidance issued by the Commission with respect to this 21
Act shall confer any rights on any person, State, or local-22
ity, nor shall operate to bind the Commission or any per-23
son to the approach recommended in such guidance. In 24
any enforcement action brought pursuant to this Act, the 25
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Commission shall allege a specific violation of a provision 1
of this Act. The Commission may not base an enforcement 2
action on, or execute a consent order based on, practices 3
that are alleged to be inconsistent with any such guide-4
lines, unless the practices allegedly violate section 2. 5
SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF COVERED DEVICE. 6
As used in this Act, the term ‘‘covered device’’— 7
(1) means a consumer product, as defined by 8
section 3(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act 9
(15 U.S.C. 2052(a)) that is capable of connecting to 10
the internet, a component of which is a camera or 11
microphone; and 12
(2) does not include— 13
(A) a telephone (including a mobile phone), 14
a laptop, tablet, or any device that a consumer 15
would reasonably expect to have a microphone 16
or camera; 17
(B) any device that is specifically marketed 18
as a camera, telecommunications device, or 19
microphone; or 20
(C) any device or apparatus described in 21
sections 255, 716, and 718, and subsections 22
(aa) and (bb) of section 303 of the Communica-23
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 255; 617; 619; 24
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and 303(aa) and (bb)), and any regulations 1
promulgated thereunder. 2
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 3
This Act shall apply to all covered devices manufac-4
tured after the date that is 180 days after the date on 5
which guidance is issued by the Commission under section 6
3(c), and shall not apply to covered devices manufactured 7
or sold before such date, or otherwise introduced into 8
interstate commerce before such date. 9
Æ
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