United StatesH.R. 9915, Stealth Bot Prohibition Act
Introduced in the first chamber, dated , as of .
A crawl signals rule binding private bodies.
As of .
Where it has got to
The text described here is H.R. 9915 as introduced in the House. That print is H.R. 9915 IH, published .
Locally, this stage is introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The stage above is recorded at www.congress.gov.
Introduced on and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. No reported print has been published, so the text as introduced is the latest public version.
What it requires
- Do not deploy a bot that accesses a website, digital platform, or online service without disclosing its identity and purpose, in a manner reasonably likely to damage, impair, or burden the technical or commercial operation of the website or service.
- Identify your bot through a valid and accurate user-agent string, and disclose its specific nature and purpose, including any proposed use of page content such as search indexing or artificial intelligence training, at the time access is requested and in a format the website operator can access.
- Do not intentionally misrepresent, conceal, or obscure the nature of a bot so that it appears to be a human user, for use in connection with a generative AI model or service.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 4.1Approaches for mapping AI technology and legal risks of its components – including the use of third-party data or software – are in place, followed, and documented, as are risks of infringement of a third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
What this law does
The bill would prohibit deploying a stealth bot to access a website, digital platform, or online service in a manner reasonably likely to damage, impair, or burden its technical or commercial operation. It would also prohibit intentionally misrepresenting, concealing, or obscuring a bot's nature so that it appears to be a human user for use in connection with a generative AI model or service.
A stealth bot is a bot that accesses a website, digital platform, or online service without prior disclosure of its identity and purpose. That includes failing to identify itself through a valid and accurate user-agent string and failing to disclose the bot's specific nature and purpose. The Federal Trade Commission could seek civil penalties of up to $53,000 per violation, adjusted each January 1. State attorneys general could sue as parens patriae on behalf of the residents of their States.
The prohibition would take effect 180 days after enactment. Representative Lee of Florida introduced the bill on , with Representatives Foushee and Bilirakis, and it was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web or trains models.