Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 859, the Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act.

Mr. Speaker, the Internet of Things has ushered in a new age of convenience and efficiency for Americans. Smart thermostats save consumers money by tracking and reporting home energy use and making recommendations about adjusting temperatures to meet consumers' needs. Smart refrigerators provide recipe suggestions based on the content of the refrigerators. Smart ovens scan food to automatically optimize the cooking process.

Every year, American consumers have more and more interconnected devices. Unfortunately, the convenience sometimes comes at a cost. Troubling reports have uncovered that some interconnected devices record images or audio without the users' awareness. Quite frankly, this happens more often than not. Sharing of that information with the device manufacturer or third parties is a real and serious threat to people's privacy.

To combat those threats, the Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act will require manufacturers of internet-connected devices to alert consumers when a device includes a camera or a microphone if a consumer would not reasonably expect it to do so. I think most consumers don't recognize or understand this.

While this bill addresses significant privacy concerns, it is also important that we recommit to adopting a bipartisan, comprehensive privacy framework that starts with data minimization and protects all Americans and provides heightened protections for our children nationwide.

I thank Representative Moulton for his leadership on this issue and encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I strongly recommend my colleagues on both sides of the aisle support H.R. 859, the Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act, and protect Americans' privacy.

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