Author Archives: Tessa Zavala

The COVID reality has bestowed attention on these emerging technologies: thermal imaging is being bought by private industry & governments to measure temperatures social distance measuring tools, mostly from cellphone data delivery robots drones Government Technology | Pandemic Acts as Trial Run for Many Emerging Technologies

When verified twitter accounts were held by hackers last week, questions emerged about crypto currency transactions. Here’s how our recollection was refreshed: Crytocurrency transactions are irreversible Cryptocurrency transactions are virtually untraceable A former NSA computer scientist in NPR | Twitter Says It Was The Victim Of A ‘Coordinated Social Engineering Attack’

The state agency: California State Library The grant portal:  the California Grants Portal, more than 100 grants totaling more than $17 billion What kind of information can be searched? applicant type, grant category, and timeframe for application deadlines What grant categories are included? environment and water; disadvantaged communities; education; health and human services; housing, community, and […]

Where: Massachusetts The legislation: S2800 (2020 | MA) How would the bill impact facial recognition and biometric software? Temporarily bans the state’s use of the software Prohibits a government agency, office, department, commission, bureau, agent or contractor from acquiring, possessing or accessing any form of biometric surveillance Creates a special commission to study the use […]

Where: Alabama What: HB 177 (2020 | AL) Include a constitutional amendment? Yes

Which states have given residents control over the data collected about them? States that have adopted California’s Consumer Privacy Act How can residents have control over their data under this legislation? • Residents can know whether and why businesses collect and share your data. • You can access your collected personal information. • You can […]

Where: New Mexico What: HB 15 (2020 | NM) Defines institutional racism Requires all state agencies to assess their anti-institutional racism policies in hiring, promotion, retention, pay equity, community engagement and workplace participation Requires the collection of data to track progress toward ending institutional racism Adopts statewide evaluation of race and gender gaps in hiring, promotion, […]

Who is proposing a public private cyber security center? U.S. Appropriation Committee wants to add one to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency budget What would the partnership look like? $11.6 million funding to establish a new Joint Cyber Center for National Cyber Defense Establish a Joint Cyber Planning Cell to coordinate planning and readiness […]

A new day. A new way to protect personal data. Meet Privacy Bee. What does Privacy Bee do? “remove users’ data en masse from thousands of databases across the Internet” What role do data scrubbing companies fill? the US has no strong national data protection laws the US is a developed country with no Data […]

Where: Michigan The Caucus: Michigan Legislative Black Caucus Where is the ban on facial recognition software being attached? A police reform bill Why the opposition? data shows software misidentifies Blacks and POC Detroit Free Press via Governing | Black Lawmakers Call for Ban of Police Facial Recognition