| 1 | The Committee on Commerce recommends the following: |
| 2 |
|
| 3 | Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 |
|
| 6 | A bill to be entitled |
| 7 | An act relating to consumer protection; creating s. |
| 8 | 501.165, F.S.; prohibiting the use of deception to obtain |
| 9 | certain personal information for commercial solicitation |
| 10 | purposes; providing penalties; creating s. 501.166, F.S.; |
| 11 | prohibiting the sale or transfer to a third party of |
| 12 | personal customer information that is protected from |
| 13 | disclosure; providing exceptions; providing applicability; |
| 14 | providing that the sale or transfer of such protected |
| 15 | information is an unfair or deceptive act or practice or |
| 16 | unfair method of competition; providing penalties; |
| 17 | amending s. 501.2075, F.S.; providing an exception to a |
| 18 | civil penalty; creating s. 501.2076, F.S.; prohibiting |
| 19 | falsely representing oneself as being affiliated with a |
| 20 | law enforcement or firefighting agency or public utility; |
| 21 | providing a civil penalty; providing that a violation of |
| 22 | s. 817.568, F.S., relating to criminal use of personal |
| 23 | identification information, is an unfair or deceptive act |
| 24 | or practice or unfair method of competition in violation |
| 25 | of pt. II of ch. 501, F.S.; providing penalties; amending |
| 26 | ss. 501.203 and 501.204, F.S.; changing obsolete dates; |
| 27 | providing an effective date. |
| 28 |
|
| 29 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 30 |
|
| 31 | Section 1. Section 501.165, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 32 | to read: |
| 33 | 501.165 Obtaining personal information for commercial |
| 34 | solicitation.--Any person who uses deceptive practices or means |
| 35 | to obtain another person's address, telephone number, or social |
| 36 | security number and uses it to engage in commercial |
| 37 | solicitation, or provides it to another person for purposes of |
| 38 | commercial solicitation, commits an unfair or deceptive act or |
| 39 | practice or engages in an unfair method of competition in |
| 40 | violation of part II of this chapter, and is subject to the |
| 41 | penalties and remedies provided for such violation, in addition |
| 42 | to remedies otherwise available for such conduct. |
| 43 | Section 2. Section 501.166, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 44 | to read: |
| 45 | 501.166 Sale or transfer of personal customer |
| 46 | information.-- |
| 47 | (1) A person or an entity may not sell or otherwise |
| 48 | transfer to a third party personal customer information that is |
| 49 | protected from disclosure by law, contract, or a published |
| 50 | privacy policy unless the purchaser or transferee: |
| 51 | (a) Agrees to abide by the contract or by the seller's or |
| 52 | transferor's then-existing privacy policy, if applicable; and |
| 53 | (b) Is in the same or substantially similar business as |
| 54 | the business that last owned the personal customer information |
| 55 | and uses the personal customer information only to solicit a |
| 56 | transaction for that business or to effect, administer, or |
| 57 | enforce a transaction as requested or authorized by that |
| 58 | customer. |
| 59 | (2) The prohibition set forth in subsection (1) applies to |
| 60 | any customer who resides in this state at the time the personal |
| 61 | customer information is sold, transferred, or otherwise |
| 62 | obtained. |
| 63 | (3) A person who violates or fails to comply with |
| 64 | subsection (1) commits an unfair or deceptive act or practice or |
| 65 | unfair method of competition in violation of part II of this |
| 66 | chapter and is subject to the penalties and remedies provided |
| 67 | for such a violation, in addition to remedies otherwise |
| 68 | available by law for such conduct. |
| 69 | Section 3. Section 501.2075, Florida Statutes, is amended |
| 70 | to read: |
| 71 | 501.2075 Civil penalty.--Except as provided in s. 501.2076 |
| 72 | or s. 501.2077, any person, firm, corporation, association, or |
| 73 | entity, or any agent or employee of the foregoing, who is |
| 74 | willfully using, or has willfully used, a method, act, or |
| 75 | practice declared unlawful under s. 501.204, or who is willfully |
| 76 | violating any of the rules of the department adopted under this |
| 77 | part, is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for |
| 78 | each such violation. Willful violations occur when the person |
| 79 | knew or should have known that his or her conduct was unfair or |
| 80 | deceptive or prohibited by rule. This civil penalty may be |
| 81 | recovered in any action brought under this part by the enforcing |
| 82 | authority; or the enforcing authority may terminate any |
| 83 | investigation or action upon agreement by the person, firm, |
| 84 | corporation, association, or entity, or the agent or employee of |
| 85 | the foregoing, to pay a stipulated civil penalty. The |
| 86 | department or the court may waive any such civil penalty if the |
| 87 | person, firm, corporation, association, or entity, or the agent |
| 88 | or employee of the foregoing, has previously made full |
| 89 | restitution or reimbursement or has paid actual damages to the |
| 90 | consumers or governmental entities who have been injured by the |
| 91 | unlawful act or practice or rule violation. If civil penalties |
| 92 | are assessed in any litigation, the enforcing authority is |
| 93 | entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs. A civil |
| 94 | penalty so collected shall accrue to the state and shall be |
| 95 | deposited as received into the General Revenue Fund unallocated. |
| 96 | Section 4. Section 501.2076, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 97 | to read: |
| 98 | 501.2076 Misrepresentations; law enforcement, |
| 99 | firefighters, or public utilities.--Any person who engages in a |
| 100 | deceptive and unfair trade practice with the intent to deceive |
| 101 | another person into believing that he or she is affiliated with |
| 102 | a law enforcement agency, firefighting agency, or public utility |
| 103 | is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $15,000 for each |
| 104 | violation. |
| 105 | Section 5. A person who violates or fails to comply with |
| 106 | any provision of s. 817.568, Florida Statutes, commits an unfair |
| 107 | or deceptive act or practice or engages in an unfair method of |
| 108 | competition in violation of part II of chapter 501, Florida |
| 109 | Statutes, and is subject to the penalties and remedies provided |
| 110 | for such violation, in addition to remedies otherwise available |
| 111 | for such conduct. |
| 112 | Section 6. Subsection (3) of section 501.203, Florida |
| 113 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 114 | 501.203 Definitions.--As used in this chapter, unless the |
| 115 | context otherwise requires, the term: |
| 116 | (3) "Violation of this part" means any violation of this |
| 117 | act or the rules adopted under this act and may be based upon |
| 118 | any of the following as of July 1, 2004 2001: |
| 119 | (a) Any rules promulgated pursuant to the Federal Trade |
| 120 | Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. ss. 41 et seq.; |
| 121 | (b) The standards of unfairness and deception set forth |
| 122 | and interpreted by the Federal Trade Commission or the federal |
| 123 | courts; |
| 124 | (c) Any law, statute, rule, regulation, or ordinance which |
| 125 | proscribes unfair methods of competition, or unfair, deceptive, |
| 126 | or unconscionable acts or practices. |
| 127 | Section 7. Subsection (2) of section 501.204, Florida |
| 128 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 129 | 501.204 Unlawful acts and practices.-- |
| 130 | (2) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in |
| 131 | construing subsection(1), due consideration and great weight |
| 132 | shall be given to the interpretations of the Federal Trade |
| 133 | Commission and the federal courts relating to s. 5(a)(1) of the |
| 134 | Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. s. 45(a)(1) as of July |
| 135 | 1, 2004 2001. |
| 136 | Section 8. This act shall take effect July 1, 2004. |