NY State Senate Bill 2025-S2539

Senate Bill S2539

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Requires retailers to post warning signs of the tracking of customers through cell phones or other electronic devices

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Consumer Protection Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 21, 2025	referred to consumer protection

2025-S2539 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Consumer Protection
Law Section:: General Business Law
Laws Affected:: Add §390-f, Gen Bus L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S3147
2021-2022: S272
2023-2024: S2404

2025-S2539 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires retailers to post warning signs of the tracking of customers through cell phones or other electronic devices; provides for civil penalties.

2025-S2539 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S2539

SPONSOR: MYRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring
retailers to post warning signs of the tracking of customers through
cell phones or other electronic devices

 
PURPOSE:

This bill requires businesses to fully disclose the presence of a
customer tracking system within their store and provide a way for
customers to opt out of such tracking.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the General Business Law by adding the new section
390-e, which requires retailers to post warning signs within their
establishment regarding tracking customers' movement through their cell-
phones and other electronic devices for purposes of storing or selling
such information. Such warning signs shall also provide information for

customers who wish to opt out of the tracking.  Retailers that do not
comply with this section are subject to a civil penalty of no more than
$100 for the first violation, $250 for the second violation, and not
more than $500 for each additional violation thereafter. All money
collected will be retained by the municipality or local government.

Section 2 provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Several stores recently reported that they are either experimenting with
or actively using technology that tracks a customer's movement and
actions within the establishment through that individual's cellphone
Wi-Fi system. This data provides the store owners with information on
buying habits, frequency of visits, popularity of different departments,
duration of visits, and other retail metrics.  Wi-Fi sensors are placed
in various locations throughout a store to detect other devices' media
access controls (MAC), or the personal signal emitted when that device
is searching for WI-Fi in the area. Thus, store customers who have
access to the Internet on their electronic devices are automatically
tracked without their knowledge - a sentiment that is inconsistent with
an individual's right to privacy as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of
the US Constitution. Therefore, such tracking activity must be fully
disclosed as is now standard practice on retailers' websites.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S2404 of 2023-24: Referred to Consumer Protection.

S272A of 2021-22: Committed to Rules.

S3147 of 2019-20: Referred to Consumer Protection.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2025-S2539 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2539
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 21, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MYRIE  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection
 
 AN ACT to amend the general  business  law,  in  relation  to  requiring
   retailers  to  post warning signs of the tracking of customers through
   cell phones or other electronic devices

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
 390-f to read as follows:
   §  390-F.  POSTING  OF  WARNING  SIGNS BY RETAILERS TRACKING CUSTOMERS
 THROUGH CELL PHONES OR OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES. 1.  ANY  RETAILER  THAT
 TRACKS A CUSTOMER BY USE OF THE CUSTOMER'S CELL PHONE OR ANY OTHER ELEC-
 TRONIC  DEVICE  WHILE  THE  CUSTOMER  IS  IN  THEIR  ESTABLISHMENT SHALL
 CONSPICUOUSLY POST A WARNING SIGN AT EACH ENTRANCE INDICATING THAT  SUCH
 RETAILER  PERFORMS  SUCH  TRACKING. SUCH WARNING SIGN SHALL ALSO PROVIDE
 INFORMATION FOR CUSTOMERS WHO WISH TO OPT OUT OF THE TRACKING.
   2. ANY RETAILER THAT VIOLATES THIS SECTION SHALL BE SUBJECT TO A CIVIL
 PENALTY OF NOT MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR  THE  FIRST  VIOLATION,
 NOT  MORE  THAN  TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS FOR THE SECOND VIOLATION, AND
 NOT MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR EACH  VIOLATION  THEREAFTER.  THE
 PROVISIONS  OF  SUBDIVISION  ONE OF THIS SECTION MAY BE ENFORCED CONCUR-
 RENTLY BY THE DIRECTOR OF A MUNICIPAL CONSUMER AFFAIRS OFFICE, OR BY THE
 TOWN ATTORNEY, CITY CORPORATION COUNSEL, OR OTHER LAWFUL DESIGNEE  OF  A
 MUNICIPALITY  OR  LOCAL  GOVERNMENT, AND ALL MONEYS COLLECTED THEREUNDER
 SHALL BE RETAINED BY SUCH MUNICIPALITY OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
   3. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS  SHALL  HAVE  THE
 FOLLOWING MEANINGS:
   (A) "ELECTRONIC  DEVICE" SHALL MEAN ANY CELL PHONE AS DEFINED BY PARA-
 GRAPH  (B)  OF    THIS SUBDIVISION, PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT, HANDHELD
 DEVICE WITH  MOBILE  DATA  ACCESS,  LAPTOP  COMPUTER,  PAGER,  BROADBAND
 PERSONAL  COMMUNICATION  DEVICE,  TWO-WAY MESSAGING   DEVICE, ELECTRONIC
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03977-02-5

 S. 2539                             2
 
 GAME, OR PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICE, OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICE  WHEN
 USED TO INPUT, WRITE, SEND, RECEIVE, OR READ TEXT FOR  PRESENT OR FUTURE
 COMMUNICATION.
   (B) "CELL PHONE" SHALL MEAN THE DEVICE USED BY  SUBSCRIBERS  AND OTHER
 USERS OF WIRELESS TELEPHONE SERVICE TO ACCESS SUCH SERVICE.
   (C)  "WIRELESS  TELEPHONE  SERVICE" SHALL MEAN TWO-WAY REAL TIME VOICE
 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE THAT IS INTERCONNECTED TO A  PUBLIC  SWITCHED
 TELEPHONE  NETWORK AND IS PROVIDED BY A COMMERCIAL MOBILE RADIO SERVICE,
 AS SUCH TERM IS DEFINED BY 47 C.F.R. § 20.3.
   (D) "TRACKING" INCLUDES, BUT  IS  NOT  LIMITED  TO,  SITUATIONS  WHERE
 RETAILERS  TRACK  A  PERSON'S  MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE ESTABLISHMENT FOR
 PURPOSES OF STORING OR  SELLING  SUCH  INFORMATION  PERTAINING  TO  SUCH
 PERSON.  "TRACKING"  DOES NOT INCLUDE THE USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES THAT
 ARE NOT UNIQUE TO A PARTICULAR PERSON.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.

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