BILL ANALYSIS
AB 766
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 19, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS,
TOURISM, AND INTERNET MEDIA
Ed Chavez, Chair
AB 766 (Chavez) - As Amended: April 12, 2005
SUBJECT : Internet-based dating services
SUMMARY : Requires an Internet-based dating service (service)
to remove a subscriber's personal information from public
display, upon the expiration or termination of the service or
subscription of a subscriber located in California.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the operator of a web site that collects personally
identifiable information to conspicuously post a privacy
policy on the web site and comply with that policy.
2)Restricts the distribution of unsolicited advertising by
e-mail.
3)Establishes the Consumer Protection Against Spyware Act which
prohibits an unauthorized person or entity from installation
of unauthorized software on a consumer's computer that takes
over control of the computer, modifying its security settings,
collecting the user's personally identifiable information,
interfering with its own removal, or otherwise deceiving the
authorized user, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is not keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose . The author indicates that the growth of the Internet
has brought new opportunities for individuals to seek
introductions to others with shared interests. Commonly
referred to as "Internet-based dating," it has grown in
popularity. The services typically offer an individual (the
subscriber) the opportunity to pay a fee to the service,
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allowing the subscriber to place his or her picture and
biographical information into a "profile," which is then made
available to other subscribers in the service, and on a more
limited basis for many services, to anyone on the Internet.
The content of the personal information contained in the
profile is solely controlled by the subscriber.
It is common industry practice to leave a subscriber's profile
on the service long after the subscriber has terminated the
service or the subscription has automatically expired. Often
without the subscriber's knowledge, his or her profile
continues to be on public display for review by other users.
During this time, e-mails from other users of the service are
automatically forwarded to the terminated subscriber, even
though the subscriber has indicated that he or she no longer
wants the service. This measure will require services to
automatically remove the profile of the subscriber from public
display, as most subscribers would expect to occur, upon
termination or expiration of their paid service. Although
subscribers typically agree to this practice as part of a
license agreement when they purchase a subscription, the
author believes that consumers should have the expectation
that if their subscription expires, the profile will, in some
way, also disappear.
This issue was brought to the attention of the author when an
individual whose subscription had expired realized that his or
her profile remained on public display. Because the
subscription would be expired, the former subscriber could no
longer access the service to remove or change their profile
without renewing their subscription. When the individual
phoned the service to see how to remove the profile, or to
request that the service remove the profile, the former
subscriber was told that the service had no control over the
profile and that it would remain on public display for up to
three months. Further research revealed that this is common
practice in the industry.
2)Industry Concern/Author's Amendments . Two providers of
Internet-based dating services (Yahoo and Match.com) have
expressed concern to the author that this bill precludes a
subscriber from choosing to have his or her profile remain on
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public display beyond the subscription period. They indicate
that many subscribers like this option because it allows them
to remain available to other subscribers for review and
contact without paying for the service unless a contact is
generated. (Industry practice is such that if Subscriber A
sees the profile of Subscriber B and desires to contact
Subscriber B, Subscriber A will click an icon, which generates
a notice to Subscriber B, from the service, that Subscriber A
desires to make contact. Subscriber B can then ignore the
contact or respond back through the service. If Subscriber
B's subscription has expired or terminated, they would
generally have to renew their subscription before they could
respond to Subscriber A.)
To address industry concern, the author has indicated his intent
to amend the bill as follows. This language would retain the
requirement that the service automatically remove a
subscriber's profile from public display, but allow a
subscriber to chose to have their profile remain on display
beyond the subscription period. An additional technical
amendment is offered to ensure that profiles are also removed
from services that have limited distribution and display of
profiles.
Page 2, line 9, after "display" insert:
, or view of other subscribers,
Page 2, line 11, after "California" insert:
unless, during the subscription period, but no later
than seven days before the end of the subscription
period, the subscriber has been directly offered the
option of keeping their profile on public display
beyond the subscription period.
3)Double-Referral . Should this bill pass this committee, the
Assembly Rules Committee has requested that it be referred to
the Assembly Judiciary Committee for its consideration.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Kellie Smith / A.,E.,S.,T. & I.M. /
(916) 319-3450