Privacy

Days after the university ended its relationship with private security firms, an open letter signed by 800 students, faculty, staff and alumni criticized the timing and placement of cameras in the Diag and Law Quad.

Personal data from more than a quarter-million Texas Department of Transportation reports was accessed improperly through a compromised account. It originated in Crash Records Information System documents.

After last month's jailbreak by 10 Orleans Parish detainees, some civic and elected leaders say it's time the city loosened the reins on the Police Department's use of facial recognition technology.

A survey on resident experience by the National Association of State Technology Directors shows states are making strong progress in advancing public-facing platforms, but momentum on incorporating user feedback is slower.

Officials are offering free credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected. The incident in late November shuttered City Hall and impacted municipal court and city services.

LiveView Technologies is releasing a new surveillance camera feature that uses AI to detect actions and determine how to proceed, in some cases prompting AI voice warnings for common issues such as illegal dumping.

Flock’s Nova platform for law enforcement reportedly used data gained from breaches. In response, the gov tech supplier is defending its product evaluation process and says it won’t use information from the dark web.

Flock Safety, a license plate reading tech firm that recently bought a drone company, is taking heat over the data sources for its new platform. It’s not the only law enforcement technology attracting concern.

As data management becomes an increasingly important priority for state governments and the people they serve, experts examine what authority the federal government has to access private state information.

As state officials move forward with various testing environments for artificial intelligence, IT leaders remain focused on ensuring that partners’ data practices meet government standards.

The City Council is considering adopting a range of new security cameras. Public opinion on the devices, however, has been mixed, both in emails to the city and testimony. A decision could come as soon as next month.

State officials are pitching a plan to businesses and hoteliers that would enable it to have real-time access to their private security camera footage. One goal is to address an ongoing shortage of law enforcement officers.

Municipal law enforcement has begun the physical device reprogramming process that will ultimately take its police scanner traffic off the air. A privacy advocate noted the need for greater transparency into government work.

Student privacy expert Ross Lemke says schools need more FERPA training, better cybersecurity and careful vendor vetting to prevent doing a “potential lifetime of harm” by failing to protect their data.

Lawmakers in several states are considering bills that would give residents more control over their data. A measure under consideration in Texas would formally recognize global privacy controls.

A federal lawsuit alleges that Google embeds hidden “tracking” technologies in its education products to follow students’ online activity as they use websites and apps, creating a “fingerprint” specific to each child.

At a workshop this week at the Consortium for School Networking’s annual conference, student data privacy expert Linnette Attai said thorough data mapping and policy review are fundamental to data protection.

A new report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers highlights the large increase in the number of state CPOs. It also offers a blueprint for states or executives to create a privacy program.