(a) No person who owns, controls, operates, or manages a satellite or cable television corporation, or who leases channels on a satellite or cable system shall: (1) Use any electronic device to record, transmit, or observe any events or listen to, record, or monitor any conversations that take place inside a subscriberâs residence, workplace, or place of business, without obtaining the express written consent of the subscriber. A satellite or cable television corporation may conduct electronic sweeps of subscriber households to monitor for signal quality. (2) Provide any person with any individually identifiable information regarding any of its subscribers, including, but not limited to, the subscriberâs television viewing habits, shopping choices, interests, opinions, energy uses, medical information, banking data or information, or any other personal or private information, without the subscriberâs express written consent. (b) Individual subscriber viewing responses or other individually identifiable information derived from subscribers may be retained and used by a satellite or cable television corporation only to the extent reasonably necessary for billing purposes and internal business practices, and to monitor for unauthorized reception of services. A satellite or cable television corporation may compile, maintain, and distribute a list containing the names and addresses of its subscribers if the list contains no other individually identifiable information and if subscribers are afforded the right to elect not to be included on the list. However, a satellite or cable television corporation shall maintain adequate safeguards to ensure the physical security and confidentiality of the subscriber information. (c) (1) A satellite or cable television corporation shall not make individual subscriber information available to government agencies in the absence of legal compulsion, including, but not limited to, a court order or subpoena. If requests for information are made, a satellite or cable television corporation shall promptly notify the subscriber of the nature of the request and what government agency has requested the information prior to responding unless otherwise prohibited from doing so by law. (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent local franchising authorities from obtaining information necessary to monitor franchise compliance pursuant to franchise or license agreements. This information shall be provided so as to omit individually identifiable subscriber information whenever possible. Information obtained by local franchising authorities shall be used solely for monitoring franchise compliance and shall not be subject to the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code). (d) Any individually identifiable subscriber information gathered by a satellite or cable television corporation shall be made available for subscriber examination within 30 days of receiving a request by a subscriber to examine the information on the premises of the corporation. Upon a reasonable showing by the subscriber that the information is inaccurate, a satellite or cable television corporation shall correct the information. (e) Upon a subscriberâs application for satellite or cable television service, including, but not limited to, interactive service, a satellite or cable television corporation shall provide the applicant with a separate notice in an appropriate form explaining the subscriberâs right to privacy protection afforded by this section. (f) As used in this section: (1) âCable television corporationâ shall have the same meaning as that term is given by Section 216.4 of the Public Utilities Code. (2) âIndividually identifiable informationâ means any information identifying an individual or the individualâs use of any service provided by a satellite or cable system other than the mere fact that the individual is a satellite o
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