Establishes penalties for unauthorized use of a cellular telephone, tampering with a cellular telephone or possessing any data contained therein without consent.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7795
IN SENATE
February 21, 2020
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Introduced by Sen. THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to unauthorized use of
a cellular telephone or any data contained therein
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The civil rights law is amended by adding three new
2 sections 79-p, 79-q and 79-r to read as follows:
3 § 79-p. Unauthorized use of a cellular telephone. No person shall
4 knowingly use, cause to be used, or access a cellular telephone or any
5 information contained therein without authorization of the owner of such
6 cellular telephone. In any action commenced pursuant to this section,
7 the court may award up to five thousand dollars in damages, or an amount
8 equal to twice the amount of any economic gain realized as a result of
9 such unauthorized use.
10 § 79-q. Tampering with a cellular telephone. No person shall inten-
11 tionally alter in any manner or destroy any data on a cellular tele-
12 phone belonging to another person without authorization. In any action
13 commenced pursuant to this section, the court may award up to five
14 thousand dollars in damages, or an amount equal to twice the amount of
15 any economic gain realized as a result of such unauthorized use.
16 § 79-r. Unauthorized possession of cellular telephone related materi-
17 al. No person shall knowingly possess, in any form, any copy, reprod-
18 uction or duplicate of any cellular telephone data which was copied,
19 reproduced or duplicated without consent of the owner of the cellular
20 telephone, with intent to benefit himself or herself or a person other
21 than an owner thereof. In any action commenced pursuant to this
22 section, the court may award up to ten thousand dollars in damages, or
23 an amount equal to twice the amount of any economic gain realized as a
24 result of such unauthorized use.
25 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15093-01-0
