HSB 613

This bill requires texting software providers to ensure certain encryption and notification features when persons send or receive text messages. telephone numbers capable of sending or receiving a text message. The bill requires a texting software provider to ensure that text message data is encrypted and sent over a network that supports the encryption, that media sent in the text message is sent and received in its original quality without degradation, and that a text message sender or receiver receives real-time notifications that a person is typing a message or whether a sent message has been read, if the user has enabled such functions on the wireless device. The bill authorizes the Iowa utilities board and the attorney general to seek an injunction against a software provider that is not encrypting text messages. A violation of the bill subjects the texting software provider to a civil penalty of $10 for each device with which a violation occurs. The bill takes effect upon enactment.