103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB5454

 

Introduced 2/9/2024, by Rep. Carol Ammons

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
815 ILCS 530/5
815 ILCS 530/10
815 ILCS 530/60 new

    Amends the Personal Information Protection Act. Provides protections for social media users and creates a private cause of action for them if their accounts have been hacked and not restored by social media websites under certain circumstances. Defines a social media website as an Internet website or mobile application that enables users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, or images; is open to the public; has more than 75 million subscribers; and has never been specifically affiliated with any religion or political party. Provides that, if a court finds that a social media website has violated this Act, the court may award actual damages computed at a rate of $1,000 per violation per day and reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in maintaining that civil action. Requires the social media website to restore access to the user's online account within 24 hours of the discovery of the security breach; provide notice of the breach of security within seven days of the discovery; and provide instructions for restoring the integrity of the user's online account of a social media website in compliance with this Act.


LRB103 36595 JRC 66704 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB5454LRB103 36595 JRC 66704 b

1    AN ACT concerning civil actions.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Personal Information Protection Act is
5amended by changing Sections 5 and 10 and by adding Section 60
6as follows:
 
7    (815 ILCS 530/5)
8    Sec. 5. Definitions. In this Act:
9    "Data collector" may include, but is not limited to,
10government agencies, public and private universities,
11privately and publicly held corporations, financial
12institutions, retail operators, and any other entity that, for
13any purpose, handles, collects, disseminates, or otherwise
14deals with nonpublic personal information.
15    "Breach of the security of the system data" or "breach"
16means unauthorized acquisition of computerized data that
17compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of
18personal information maintained by the data collector. "Breach
19of the security of the system data" does not include good faith
20acquisition of personal information by an employee or agent of
21the data collector for a legitimate purpose of the data
22collector, provided that the personal information is not used
23for a purpose unrelated to the data collector's business or

 

 

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1subject to further unauthorized disclosure.
2    "Health insurance information" means an individual's
3health insurance policy number or subscriber identification
4number, any unique identifier used by a health insurer to
5identify the individual, or any medical information in an
6individual's health insurance application and claims history,
7including any appeals records.
8    "Medical information" means any information regarding an
9individual's medical history, mental or physical condition, or
10medical treatment or diagnosis by a healthcare professional,
11including such information provided to a website or mobile
12application.
13    "Personal information" means either of the following:
14        (1) An individual's first name or first initial and
15    last name in combination with any one or more of the
16    following data elements, when either the name or the data
17    elements are not encrypted or redacted or are encrypted or
18    redacted but the keys to unencrypt or unredact or
19    otherwise read the name or data elements have been
20    acquired without authorization through the breach of
21    security:
22            (A) Social Security number.
23            (B) Driver's license number or State
24        identification card number.
25            (C) Account number or credit or debit card number,
26        or an account number or credit card number in

 

 

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1        combination with any required security code, access
2        code, or password that would permit access to an
3        individual's financial account.
4            (D) Medical information.
5            (E) Health insurance information.
6            (F) Unique biometric data generated from
7        measurements or technical analysis of human body
8        characteristics used by the owner or licensee to
9        authenticate an individual, such as a fingerprint,
10        retina or iris image, or other unique physical
11        representation or digital representation of biometric
12        data.
13        (2) User name or email address, in combination with a
14    password or security question and answer that would permit
15    access to an online account, when either the user name or
16    email address or password or security question and answer
17    are not encrypted or redacted or are encrypted or redacted
18    but the keys to unencrypt or unredact or otherwise read
19    the data elements have been obtained through the breach of
20    security.
21    "Personal information" does not include publicly available
22information that is lawfully made available to the general
23public from federal, State, or local government records.
24    "Social media website" means an Internet website or mobile
25application that enables users to communicate with each other
26by posting information, comments, messages, or images, and

 

 

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1that meets the following criteria: is open to the public; has
2more than 75,000,000 subscribers; and has never been
3specifically affiliated with any religion or political party.
4(Source: P.A. 99-503, eff. 1-1-17.)
 
5    (815 ILCS 530/10)
6    Sec. 10. Notice of breach; notice to Attorney General.
7    (a) Any data collector that owns or licenses personal
8information concerning an Illinois resident shall notify the
9resident at no charge that there has been a breach of the
10security of the system data following discovery or
11notification of the breach. The disclosure notification shall
12be made in the most expedient time possible and without
13unreasonable delay, consistent with any measures necessary to
14determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable
15integrity, security, and confidentiality of the data system.
16The disclosure notification to an Illinois resident shall
17include, but need not be limited to, information as follows:
18        (1) With respect to personal information as defined in
19    Section 5 in paragraph (1) of the definition of "personal
20    information":
21            (A) the toll-free numbers and addresses for
22        consumer reporting agencies;
23            (B) the toll-free number, address, and website
24        address for the Federal Trade Commission; and
25            (C) a statement that the individual can obtain

 

 

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1        information from these sources about fraud alerts and
2        security freezes.
3        (2) With respect to personal information defined in
4    Section 5 in paragraph (2) of the definition of "personal
5    information", notice may be provided in electronic or
6    other form directing the Illinois resident whose personal
7    information has been breached to promptly change his or
8    her user name or password and security question or answer,
9    as applicable, or to take other steps appropriate to
10    protect all online accounts for which the resident uses
11    the same user name or email address and password or
12    security question and answer.
13    The notification shall not, however, include information
14concerning the number of Illinois residents affected by the
15breach.
16    (b) Any data collector that maintains or stores, but does
17not own or license, computerized data that includes personal
18information that the data collector does not own or license
19shall notify the owner or licensee of the information of any
20breach of the security of the data immediately following
21discovery, if the personal information was, or is reasonably
22believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person. In
23addition to providing such notification to the owner or
24licensee, the data collector shall cooperate with the owner or
25licensee in matters relating to the breach. That cooperation
26shall include, but need not be limited to, (i) informing the

 

 

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1owner or licensee of the breach, including giving notice of
2the date or approximate date of the breach and the nature of
3the breach, and (ii) informing the owner or licensee of any
4steps the data collector has taken or plans to take relating to
5the breach. The data collector's cooperation shall not,
6however, be deemed to require either the disclosure of
7confidential business information or trade secrets or the
8notification of an Illinois resident who may have been
9affected by the breach.
10    (b-5) The notification to an Illinois resident required by
11subsection (a) of this Section may be delayed if an
12appropriate law enforcement agency determines that
13notification will interfere with a criminal investigation and
14provides the data collector with a written request for the
15delay. However, the data collector must notify the Illinois
16resident as soon as notification will no longer interfere with
17the investigation.
18    (c) For purposes of this Section, notice to consumers may
19be provided by one of the following methods:
20        (1) written notice;
21        (2) electronic notice, if the notice provided is
22    consistent with the provisions regarding electronic
23    records and signatures for notices legally required to be
24    in writing as set forth in Section 7001 of Title 15 of the
25    United States Code; or
26        (3) substitute notice, if the data collector

 

 

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1    demonstrates that the cost of providing notice would
2    exceed $250,000 or that the affected class of subject
3    persons to be notified exceeds 500,000, or the data
4    collector does not have sufficient contact information.
5    Substitute notice shall consist of all of the following:
6    (i) email notice if the data collector has an email
7    address for the subject persons; (ii) conspicuous posting
8    of the notice on the data collector's web site page if the
9    data collector maintains one; and (iii) notification to
10    major statewide media or, if the breach impacts residents
11    in one geographic area, to prominent local media in areas
12    where affected individuals are likely to reside if such
13    notice is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to
14    persons whom notice is required.
15    (d) Notwithstanding any other subsection in this Section,
16a data collector that maintains its own notification
17procedures as part of an information security policy for the
18treatment of personal information and is otherwise consistent
19with the timing requirements of this Act, shall be deemed in
20compliance with the notification requirements of this Section
21if the data collector notifies subject persons in accordance
22with its policies in the event of a breach of the security of
23the system data.
24    (e)(1) This subsection does not apply to data collectors
25that are covered entities or business associates and are in
26compliance with Section 50.

 

 

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1    (2) Any data collector required to issue notice pursuant
2to this Section to more than 500 Illinois residents as a result
3of a single breach of the security system shall provide notice
4to the Attorney General of the breach, including:
5        (A) A description of the nature of the breach of
6    security or unauthorized acquisition or use.
7        (B) The number of Illinois residents affected by such
8    incident at the time of notification.
9        (C) Any steps the data collector has taken or plans to
10    take relating to the incident.
11    Such notification must be made in the most expedient time
12possible and without unreasonable delay but in no event later
13than when the data collector provides notice to consumers
14pursuant to this Section. If the date of the breach is unknown
15at the time the notice is sent to the Attorney General, the
16data collector shall send the Attorney General the date of the
17breach as soon as possible.
18    Upon receiving notification from a data collector of a
19breach of personal information, the Attorney General may
20publish the name of the data collector that suffered the
21breach, the types of personal information compromised in the
22breach, and the date range of the breach.
23    (f) In accordance with federal law, any business that
24operates a social media website shall, within 24 hours of
25discovery of a breach of security to a user whose online
26account or personal information was, or is reasonably believed

 

 

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1to have been, accessed by an unauthorized person, determine
2the scope of the breach of security and restore the reasonable
3integrity of, and access to, the online account to the user.
4Any discovery of breach of security shall be documented in
5writing by the business that operates the social media website
6and retained for 5 years.
7    (g) Within 7 days of the discovery of the breach of
8security to a user's account, the business that operates the
9social media website shall provide clear and conspicuous
10notice delivered to the user through the email and mobile
11phone number that was associated with the online account prior
12to the breach of security.
13    (h) The business that operates the social media website
14shall include within the notification instructions that
15directs the customer whose online account has been breached to
16promptly change any password and security question or answer,
17as applicable, and to take other appropriate steps to protect
18and restore the integrity of the online account of the social
19media website.
20    (i) The Department of Innovation and Technology may
21promulgate rules and regulations necessary to effectuate this
22subsection.
23(Source: P.A. 100-201, eff. 8-18-17; 101-343, eff. 1-1-20.)
 
24    (815 ILCS 530/60 new)
25    Sec. 60. Private cause of action for violation of this Act

 

 

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1by a business operating a social media website.
2    (a) Any user of a social media website may bring an action
3in any court of competent jurisdiction following the discovery
4of a breach of security by the business that operates the
5social media website, if the user:
6        (1) has not had access restored to the user's online
7    account within 24 hours of the discovery of the security
8    breach as required by this Act;
9        (2) has not been provided notice of the breach of
10    security within seven days of such discovery, as required
11    by this Act; or
12        (3) has not been provided instructions for restoring
13    the integrity of the user's online account of a social
14    media website in compliance with this Act.
15    (b) If a court of competent jurisdiction finds that a
16social media website has violated this Section, the court may
17award actual damages computed at a rate of $1,000 per
18violation per day and reasonable attorney's fees and costs
19incurred in maintaining that civil action.
20    (c) This private right of action authorized pursuant to
21this Section does not supplant any other claim or cause of
22action available to a customer under common law or by statute.
23The provisions of this subsection are in addition to any other
24common law and statutory remedies.
25    (d) Nothing in this Section may be construed as creating a
26private right of action against the State or any political

 

 

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1subdivision.