BILL REQ. #:  H-2771.2 

Prefiled 01/08/14. Read first time 01/13/14.   Referred to Committee on Technology & Economic Development.

     AN ACT Relating to an individual's right to retain control of digital information; adding new sections to chapter 19.190 RCW; creating new sections; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the recent proliferation of social networking web sites and other online services, including mobile applications, has created an unprecedented opportunity for individuals to create a digital persona. The legislature finds that an individual has a privacy interest in his or her digital persona and a right to exercise some degree of control over how the individual projects himself or herself in the digital world. It is the intent of the legislature to ensure that individuals who visit internet web sites and use online or mobile services, such as social networking services, have the opportunity to remove content or information that they have posted, retaining control over information that contributes to their digital personas.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 19.190 RCW to read as follows:
     The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section and section 3 of this act unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Operator" means any person or entity that owns a service. It does not include any third party that operates, hosts, or manages, but does not own, a service on the owner's behalf or processes information on the owner's behalf.
     (2) "Posted" means content or information that can be accessed by a user in addition to the user who posted the content or information, whether the user who posted the content is a registered user or not, of the service where the content or information is posted.
     (3) "Registered user" means a natural person who resides in the state and who has created an account for the purpose of accessing a service.
     (4) "Service" means an internet web site, online service, online application, or mobile application, or a portion thereof.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 19.190 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) An operator must:
     (a) Permit a registered user of the operator's service to remove or, if the operator prefers, to request and obtain removal of content or information posted on the operator's service;
     (b) Provide notice to a registered user of the operator's service to remove or, if the operator prefers, request and obtain removal of content or information posted on the operator's service;
     (c) Provide clear and conspicuous instructions to a registered user of the operator's service on how the user may remove or, if the operator prefers, request and obtain the removal of content or information posted on the operator's service; and
     (d) Provide notice to a registered user of the operator's service that the removal described under (a) of this subsection does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information posted on the operator's service by the registered user.
     (2) An operator or a third party is not required to erase or otherwise eliminate, or to enable erasure or elimination of, content or information if:
     (a) Any other provision of federal or state law requires the operator or third party to maintain the content or information;
     (b) The content or information was stored on or posted to the operator's service by a third party other than the registered user, including any content or information posted by the registered user that was stored, republished, or reposted by the third party;
     (c) The operator anonymizes the content or information posted by the registered user, so that the registered user cannot be individually identified;
     (d) The registered user does not follow clear and conspicuous instructions provided by the operator pursuant to subsection (1)(c) of this section in requesting or seeking to obtain the removal of content or information posted on the operator's service; or
     (e) The registered user has received compensation or other consideration for providing the content. However, the mere provision of the service by the operator is not deemed compensation or consideration under this subsection.
     (3) This section shall not be construed to limit the authority of a law enforcement agency to obtain any content or information from an operator as authorized by law or pursuant to an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
     (4) An operator shall be deemed compliant with this section if:
     (a) It renders the content or information posted by the user no longer visible to other users of the service and the public even if the content or information remains on the operator's servers in some form; or
     (b) Despite making the original posting by the user invisible, it remains visible because a third party has copied the posting or reposted the content or information posted by the user.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act may be known and cited as the digital world privacy rights act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   This act takes effect January 1, 2015.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.