Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Good morning, everyone. This is the Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. It is Wednesday, 01/21/2026 at 11:27 in the morning. So we're here for our last introduction, bill introduction, from representative Rachelson. It's an act relating to adopting minimum security standards for connected devices. Good morning, representative. How are you?

[Rep. Barbara Rachelson]: I'm very well. Thank you so much for having me in. And I apologize for not RSVPing earlier. I somehow was not on the email system for the last twenty four hours. So so I'm representative Barbara Rachelsen. I've been in this biennium, I think, before. And I actually introduced this bill back in 'twenty two, I believe. And it's become even more important than it was back then. So I'm really glad to be able to pitch you taking this up or adding this to some of the work you're doing. So this the the problem that this bill is trying to address is there are many different products in our homes, including children's toys, appliances that are recording us and are transmitting that information. Maybe they're taking pictures. And it's not always well known to the person who has purchased the item that this is happening. So I had a bunch of articles from back when I first introduced it, and I did a quick look this morning. And just in the last year alone, Reader's Digest had a great article that said and I will I will be sending you the links to these articles, but Reader's Digest. So which kitchen appliances might be spying on you? Wirecutter, if any of you are Wirecutter fans, The New York Times consumer arm of their publication. Data security: Yes, your TV is probably spying on you. Your fridge too. Here's what they know. Then there were some more obscure ones, but very concerning, especially to parents or grandparents. Eight Privacy Concerns with Kids Smart Toys Recording. It talks about constant voice recording, location tracking features, third party data sharing, unauthorized access, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act violations. Then there's a couple more articles. Dangers of smarter internet connected toys you need to be aware of. One more: We tested kids' smart toys for privacy. Here's how you can, too. I think it's critically important that we have Vermonters know what they are bringing into their homes and what they're capable of. So this bill, and I don't know if you'll get alleged counsel walkthrough of it or not, but basically, it would propose to require connected devices sold in Vermont meet minimum security standards. One of the most important of the six things that it does to me is the privacy practices. That the product shall have a privacy policy that's easily accessible, written in a language that's easily understood and appropriate for the person using the device. Other safety standards include encryption for its network communication functions and capabilities to ensure that its communications are not eavesdropped on or modified in transit security updates. The product shall support automatic updates for a reasonable period of time strong passwords. If the product uses passwords for remote authentication, it should require that strong passwords are used. Vulnerability management, which shall include a point of contact for reporting vulnerabilities. And that the this one, again, is very key, that the business shall notify consumers about substantive changes in the policy. It shall disclose if it's collecting, transmitting, or sharing data collected. And the business shall permit consumers to delete their data and account that are related to the product. So again, I know you're looking at data privacy in lots of different ways. And I think there are some simple warnings that can be put on products so that, I mean, especially we don't want kids to be tracked with a toy that we're bringing into our house or have our dishwasher, if somebody's walking around in their underwear, recording that and sending images of people. So I know to be brief, I'm happy to answer any questions, I will send you my comments and the links to these articles.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Did you have a chance to look at some of the other states and if they have any bills similar?

[Rep. Barbara Rachelson]: I have looked at at that, but my information is a little bit old. So I know that there are several bills that are pending. When I introduced the bill in '22, I got a couple of emails from national groups that were, like, very excited that we were looking at this. But I can get back to you later if I can find any that actually have the notification. I found out about an maybe an hour ago that I was testifying, and we had a very powerful victim whose daughter was murdered in our committee. So I

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Understood. Understandable.

[Rep. Barbara Rachelson]: Not totally on my game.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Hi. Thanks for doing this. A fun one that I've been using that came out a couple months ago is a certain smart toilet brand was asked about encryption and they actually couldn't explain what encryption was for their smart toilets. But I'm curious on your opt out, if you consider doing opt in.

[Rep. Barbara Rachelson]: Absolutely. I would consider it. I like opt out just because it's sometimes it's easier for people.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Yeah. Sure.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: Yeah. I'm thinking they might not know that their vacuum and their TV and their fridge and their their teddy bear and everything else. So they might even think to opt out versus Right.

[Rep. Barbara Rachelson]: Yeah. Right. No. That makes more sense to have it as opt in. I see what you're saying. Think you meant opt into privacy, opt into getting recorded. And again, I know there are times that it's like you can save money because your washing machine is connected and they can diagnose what's wrong with it. But there must be ways to just like we can turn the little window on our camera, and we're not being reported on our laptops all the time. I think technology is wonderful and can help us, but I also think if if our privacy in our homes is being in is being intruded upon, that we owe it to people to know that.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Yeah. Just maybe a comment that I like very much what's in the bill. A lot of what you're talking about in terms of privacy protection.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: I've seen in other bills that we're considering, so I think there's

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: gonna be kind of a mix of ideas that we're going into, know, a discussion of those bills. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[Rep. Barbara Rachelson]: You're welcome, and I will get you this information later today, and we'll get an answer to your question and send it to the committee, I guess. Thank you very much.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Well, committee, that completes the morning. Remember, we have now meeting with the captain insurance at the Capital Plaza. You can go in and maybe you can go over and go there for lunch or back here for 01:15, telling them where we continue to have the of Human Rights Commission, and then the captives will be over to testify at the gate. But then we have the door. Okay. We can go up live.