Policy

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has unveiled the product of its $1.5 million investment: the Med City Mover, a small autonomous shuttle traveling on a 1.5-mile loop in the city of Rochester.

According to individuals from the private sector who have worked with Ohio to reduce instances of fraud with the state's unemployment system, the state has fared better than others in dealing with fraud.

Courts around the country got creative during the pandemic, moving clerks’ support onto Zoom, offering self-serve hearing scheduling on Doodle and taking judges and court sessions on the road, and the river.

Cruise and Waymo received “deployment” permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles for their autonomous vehicle operations in the Bay Area, clearing another hurdle to for-hire commercial AV service.

The cyber landscape has evolved to an almost unrecognizable degree in the past twenty years. We look at recent history, analyze policy changes aimed at battling today’s threats and consider what the future may hold.

The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA), an advocacy group, has released an online reporting tool in an effort to collect more accurate data about anti-Asian hate crimes. The data could help inform policy.

Under a bill advancing in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, parents would be granted access to school curriculum, textbook titles and lesson plans with a few clicks of a mouse.

According to a legal expert, a new social media censorship law in Texas could inadvertently lead to more spam in everyone's inbox. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have taken legal action against the law.

As part of the response to the global shortage of cybersecurity talent, a bipartisan bill would establish a program where cybersecurity staff can rotate to different federal agencies.

Are stricter privacy regulations a good thing? As more state and local governments look to protect data privacy, a couple of industry experts point out some of the challenges associated with these types of policies.

The young company, with roots in Barack Obama’s second presidential campaign, helps governments and others use data to make policy decisions. The new funding reflects the public sector’s rising use of such tools.

Last week, Hamilton City Council in Ohio unanimously passed legislation to ban residents from using drones to harass and spy on other citizens. However, drone supporters felt the law was too broad.

Out of the pandemic came an innovation that a coalition of open-government groups is begging Gov. Dan McKee to reinstate: the opportunity for the public to both watch and participate in government remotely.

Improving national cybersecurity means requiring organizations to report incidents — and giving these requirements enforcement teeth, said CISA Director Jen Easterly and National Cyber Director Chris Inglis.

Regulators are going after the cryptocurrency industry, which generates trillions of dollars. Crypto firms are seeking lobbyist support in Washington, D.C., as legal arguments reach a higher boiling point.

Starting Nov. 1, a Wisconsin bill will go into effect requiring insurance companies to meet specific requirements to protect residents' private information, including social security numbers and health information.

According to unnamed federal officials, the U.S. Treasury Department is poised to announce policies later this week that would sanction cryptocurrency entities that facilitate payment to ransomware criminals.  

If the legislation to create the new commission gets traction, standards would be set around the protection of private data across several sectors. Proponents contend these minimum standards will help secure the state.