Privacy

At a time when cameras are ubiquitous and social media is part of community engagement, school districts need policies, and perhaps technology, that formalize the process of getting parental consent for photos of students.

Two bills on Internet safety and privacy for children that are now before the New York state Legislature have fierce opposition from tech companies. But Gov. Kathy Hochul said their passage is her “priority.”

Attorney and former Santa Cruz County Supervisor Gary Patton addressed hypothetical privacy questions and more at an event hosted Monday night by the Santa Cruz chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In coming months, drones will supplant police emergency response in the Central Park precinct, in three precincts in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx. It’s not yet clear the types of calls on which the drones will be used.

After a state Supreme Court suggestion, lawmakers amended the state’s biometric privacy law Thursday. If signed by the governor, the law would limit damages collection to when biometric information is collected or disclosed without consent.

State legislators have agreed on what should be done about protecting residents from artificial intelligence, and against the use of deepfakes in elections. Proposed laws taking action on each have gone to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature.

Hackers who breached Wichita, Kan., police and traffic records were able to access residents’ personal information, including names, Social Security numbers and driver's licenses. Since then, the city’s network has remained down.

The health-care network is doing restoration after a ransomware attack May 8 affected network systems tracking test results, procedures and medications. Ascension runs more than 350 hospitals and urgent care centers in Indiana alone.

While generative artificial intelligence is getting all the headlines, K-12 district leaders still rank cybersecurity, data privacy and staffing as bigger priorities, followed by training and funding.

In an effort to force collaboration on data privacy and online safety laws, two Congressional representatives propose doing away with part of a U.S. law that shields technology and social media platforms from liability for user-generated content.

Attorneys are asking Sacramento, Calif., officials to stop sharing automated license plate reader information with out-of-state law enforcement agencies that could use it to prosecute people seeking abortions or gender-affirming medical care.

Among its directives, the order from the Maryland county’s executive creates an AI task force that will be responsible for drafting strategies, use cases and priorities. “Digital access equity” is central to that work.

Video surveillance for security reasons is fairly common on college campuses, but as law enforcement increasingly uses facial recognition to identify suspects, protestors worry they could be targeted for expressing opinions.

The proposal is called the American Privacy Rights Act, and it aims to “make privacy a consumer right” and “give consumers the ability to enforce that right,” doing so at a pivotal moment.

Chief Privacy Officer, Washington

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming mainstream for public agencies. But as state tech leaders look toward the benefits of the technology in the coming years, they are also sounding cautionary notes.

The new technology, demonstrated Wednesday at the city’s international airport, verifies travelers’ identities by matching an ID to a photo taken at a TSA checkpoint. The system alerts on fraudulent or expired identification.

Nearly 2,800 patients at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester may have had files with personal and health information exposed, in what the hospital called a third-party “data security incident.” Those potentially affected will be notified by mail.