Invasion of privacy: wearable recording devices.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material did not provide specific details on how much it would cost to follow these new rules or if there are exemptions for certain groups under other laws.

Wearable Recording Devices and Privacy

The bill makes it illegal to use wearable recording devices without permission in private areas of businesses and bans technology that can disable lights or signals on these devices.

What This Bill Does

• Makes it against the law to record sound or video with a wearable device inside a business where people expect privacy, unless they get permission from everyone involved.
• Forbids turning off any light or signal on a recording device that shows when it is capturing audio or video.
• Bans making, selling, buying, or using technology that can disable lights or signals on wearable recording devices.
• Makes breaking these rules punishable by fines and jail time for individuals, and civil penalties for businesses.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who use wearable recording devices in private areas of businesses without permission.
• Businesses that make or sell technology related to disabling lights on wearable recording devices.

Terms To Know

Wearable Recording Device

A device that can be worn on your body and records audio or video.

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

An area where people expect to have privacy, like a private office in a business.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if someone accidentally breaks these rules.
• It is unclear how the new laws will be enforced or who will enforce them.

Official Summary Text

SB 1130, as amended, Reyes.
Invasion of privacy: wearable recording devices.
Existing law prohibits tapping a communication wire or intercepting or recording a telephone communication, as specified, without the consent of all parties, and prohibits trespassing on property for the purpose of committing, or attempting to commit, a violation of those prohibitions. A violation of those provisions is punishable by a fine not exceeding $2,500, by imprisonment as either a misdemeanor or a felony, or by both the fine and imprisonment, unless otherwise exempted. If that person has previously been convicted of a violation of any of the above-described laws, except for the prohibition on trespassing, a violation of any of those provisions is punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, by imprisonment as either a misdemeanor or a felony, or by both the fine and imprisonment.
This bill would additionally prohibit a person from
operating a wearable recording device, as defined, to capture sound or video of any other person in any area within a place of business, as defined, where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy unless the person operating the device has the explicit consent of that person to capture sound or video of that person. The bill would prohibit a person from disabling any light or other device on a wearable recording device that indicates that the device is capturing sound or video.
The bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,500, by imprisonment as a misdemeanor, or by both that fine and imprisonment. The bill would make the exemptions from the provisions described above applicable to violations of these prohibitions.
By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would also prohibit a person
or entity from manufacturing, selling, delivering, holding, or offering for sale in commerce any technology that enables a person to disable any light or other device on a wearable recording device that indicates that the device is capturing sound or video and would prohibit a person from purchasing, trading for, otherwise acquiring, or using that technology, as specified. The bill would make a knowing violation of these provisions punishable by a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500 per violation.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF