Requires internet dating services to utilize license verification for New York members and implement reasonable security features that prohibits usage of the online dating service absent identity verification.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9109
IN ASSEMBLY
February 7, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. VANEL -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Consumer Affairs and Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to internet dating
service verification standards
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
2 394-cccc to read as follows:
3 § 394-cccc. Internet dating service verification standards. 1. As used
4 in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "identity verification" shall mean the use of an on-demand self-
6 photograph to verify the ownership of a person's government-issued iden-
7 tification;
8 (b) "internet dating service" shall mean a person or entity directly
9 or indirectly in the business, for profit, of offering, promoting, or
10 providing access to dating, relationship, compatibility, or matrimonial
11 or social referral services principally on or through the internet;
12 (c) "license verification" shall mean the use of technology to verify
13 a person's government-issued identification;
14 (d) "location verification" shall mean the use of technology to deter-
15 mine a person's approximate location;
16 (e) "member" means a customer, client or participant who submits to an
17 internet dating service information required to access the service for
18 the purpose of engaging in dating, relationship, compatibility, matrimo-
19 nial, or social referral service;
20 (f) "minor" shall mean a New York resident who is under the age of
21 eighteen;
22 (g) "New York member" shall mean a member who registers for an inter-
23 net dating service and whose primary location is the state of New York;
24 and
25 (h) "primary location" shall mean the state in which the member
26 resides.
27 2. Prior to registering a member for their service, an internet dating
28 service offering services to New York members shall:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14365-02-4
A. 9109 2
1 (a) require all members to use location verification to verify whether
2 a member is located in the state of New York;
3 (b) require all New York members to use license verification for such
4 service. Where it is determined from the license verification that the
5 New York member is a minor, such member shall be prohibited from using
6 the online dating service; and
7 (c) require such New York members to provide identity verification to
8 such service.
9 3. An internet dating service offering services to New York members
10 shall implement a reasonable security feature that prohibits usage of
11 the online dating service that is triggered during any significant peri-
12 od of inactive use.
13 4. An online dating service offering services to New York members
14 shall use reasonable measures to determine a member's primary location.
15 Where such primary location of a member is the state of New York, such
16 online dating service shall require such member to engage in the verifi-
17 cation processes required by this section. Where the member is not
18 determined to reside in New York, such member shall not be required to
19 engage in the verification processes required by this section.
20 5. (a) The attorney general may bring an action against an internet
21 dating service that violates the provisions of this section:
22 (i) To enjoin further violation of the provisions of this section; and
23 (ii) To recover up to five hundred dollars for each New York member
24 registered with the internet dating service but was not subjected to the
25 verification processes required by this section.
26 (b) In an action under subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of this
27 subdivision, a court may increase the damages up to three times the
28 damages allowed by such paragraph where the defendant has been found to
29 have engaged in a pattern and practice of violating the provisions of
30 this section.
31 (c) No internet dating service provider shall be deemed to have
32 violated the provisions of this section if such internet dating service
33 shows, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the violation was not
34 intentional and resulted from a bona fide error made notwithstanding the
35 maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid such error.
36 (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict any right
37 which any person may have under any other statute or common law.
38 6. An internet service provider does not violate this section solely
39 as a result of serving as an intermediary for the transmission of elec-
40 tronic messages between members of an internet dating service.
41 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
42 it shall have become a law.
