Privacy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General on Friday said it was launching an audit of the security controls for the federal government's payment system, after Democratic senators raised red flags about the access provided to Trump aide Elon... Read More

LANSING, Mich. — A push is on in Michigan to draft legislation that would provide enhanced privacy protections for women’s health data related to reproductive care. The bill, which Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky plans to introduce once next year’s... Read More

DALLAS (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is dropping a request for a Seattle hospital to hand over records regarding gender-affirming treatment potentially given to children from Texas as part of a lawsuit settlement announced Monday. Seattle Children's Hospital filed the lawsuit against Paxton's office... Read More

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Moderna said it has paused efforts to build an mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya due to uncertainty over the future demand for COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. According to a statement posted on the drugmaker’s website last week,... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday proposed sweeping new regulations to protect children from surveillance techniques used by internet companies. The proposed rules could change how social media monetizes data they glean from children’s gaming, learning and internet... Read More

WASHINGTON — A new bill, the Protecting Education Privacy Act, could bolster student privacy by restricting third-party access to their college and university records. The bill was reintroduced just before the current House recess by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo. Though rights... Read More

In an alternate universe, the new crop of privacy laws in Iowa, Indiana and Tennessee could have been cause for celebration, marking a growing number of consumers around the country enjoying strong new protections over their personal data. In reality,... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is still actively searching for ways to safeguard abortion access for millions of women, even as it bumps up against a complex web of strict new state laws enacted in the months after the Supreme... Read More

WASHINGTON — D.C. Councilman Robert White heard nearly seven hours of wide-ranging testimony about the proposed Stop Discrimination by Algorithms Act last week. The proposed law would prohibit a wide range of businesses across the district from using algorithms to... Read More

WASHINGTON — A letter to Commissioner Chris Magnus of Customs and Border Protection revealed the agency gathers data from Americans’ phones, laptops and other electronic devices in what they call a “border search,” potentially storing that information for years. “Innocent... Read More

WASHINGTON — Senators are urging the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to shut down its “Orwellian data-gathering efforts,” according to a letter sent by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Tuesday. The senators reference multiple reports, including one... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — All children under 18 need to be protected on the internet, according to California lawmakers, who recently approved a new law that would extend online data protections to all children. They sent the bill, the California Age-Appropriate... Read More

WASHINGTON — Facebook’s user data is scattered throughout its system in such a way no one person could detail exactly what information the social media company collects on an individual. This is according to recently unsealed court documents from the... Read More

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — When the U.S. Supreme Court repealed in June a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, Wisconsin's 1849 law that bans the procedure except when a mother's life is at risk became newly relevant. Republicans in the Legislature blocked an... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission is asking the public if they’d like more privacy shields to protect them from “commercial surveillance” and poor data security. The commission announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Thursday that kicks off the... Read More

WASHINGTON  — Two new bills aiming to protect children’s privacy rights on the internet passed out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Wednesday. Both bills passed through the committee and moved to a possible vote for the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Data privacy is getting its turn in the spotlight this week as the bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee with wide agreement in a 53-2 vote. “It’s the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is asking the country’s top cellphone carriers for information on how each company uses and retains customer geolocation data. It’s important because “mobile internet service providers are uniquely situated to capture a... Read More

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan legislation to protect data that “identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable” to any one person passed in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in a 53-2 vote Wednesday. “Today’s vote has been years in the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act is floating through the House and Senate, taking aim at whether the government should be able to access personal data, such as sensitive health information. “There’s been a lot of... Read More

WASHINGTON — Data privacy advocates are sounding the alarm as the Supreme Court’s official opinion looms on the Mississippi lawsuit that likely could overturn the precedent for a woman’s right to an abortion set by Roe v. Wade. If the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Weaving together information from public databases and private data brokers, immigration officials have created a vast surveillance system that can be used on nearly any American, regardless of immigration status, according to a new report from Georgetown Law’s... Read More

WASHINGTON — Thousands of protestors gathered on Saturday to march for abortion rights from the Washington Monument to the Supreme Court building. The rally, called "Bans Off Our Bodies" was arranged by health organizations and advocates from across the country,... Read More

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of an ACLU lawsuit challenging a portion of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance of Americans' international email and phone communications.  The 4th U.S. Circuit Court... Read More

WASHINGTON -- As a number of states move towards enacting their own data privacy laws, the U.S. Congress should come up with its own comprehensive privacy statute enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, said FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips Monday. Having... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Free press advocates told Congress Wednesday that the Justice Department is out of control in secretly seeking Internet-based information about its political adversaries. Comments from lawmakers during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee indicated the FBI and... Read More

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Nevada lawmakers are fast-tracking emergency legislation to bolster web privacy protections after a nonprofit news organization revealed the state's COVID-19 vaccine information site contained the most trackers in the country. The legislation, introduced by Assembly Minority... Read More

As vaccine eligibility expands to those 16 and over in many states, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning those getting shots against posting photos of their vaccine cards online.  “I’ve seen people wanting to be proud and show off... Read More

WASHINGTON — As states begin to consider consumer privacy legislation, Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., is renewing her push for a federal statute on the matter.  California and Virginia have already enacted comprehensive state data privacy laws, but DelBene said a... Read More

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland officials voted on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, in favor of the nation’s first-ever ban on private entities using facial recognition technology in its city public spaces. In a second ordinance approved on the same day, the... Read More