EPIC has sent a statement to the New York State Senate recommending passage of legislation modeled on Fair Information Practices and creation of a Data Protection Agency. The NY Senate will hold a hearing this week on Senate Bill 5642, concerting oversight of personal data. EPIC's recent report, Grading on a Curve: Privacy Legislation in the 116th Congress sets out the key elements of a privacy law. "A strong state privacy law would establish an independent state-level Data Protection Agency with resources, technical expertise, rulemaking authority and effective enforcement powers," EPIC told the New York Senate. EPIC's State Policy Project tracks privacy developments at the state level.
Five prominent Senators have demanded that Amazon provide information about Ring, the neighborhood surveillance system posing as a doorbell. Senators Wyden, Markey, Van Hollen, Coons, and Peters wrote that Amazon "holds a vast amount of deeply sensitive data and video footage detailing the lives of millions of Americans in and near their homes." The Senators pressed Amazon for Information about Ring and facial recognition, noting that the company has applied for facial recognition patents. The letter follows an investigation by Senator Markey into Ring's surveillance practices. Senator Markey has also sponsored the Privacy Bill of Rights Act, a bill that would limit some of Amazon's data collection practices. EPIC has recently launched a campaign to Ban Face Surveillance worldwide. After 9-11, EPIC also led the Observing Surveillance campaign to limit the use of surveillance cameras in DC.
In response to EPIC's Freedom of Information Act request, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has provided to EPIC several documents about Nebraska's use of pre-trial risk assessments. Emails among state officials reveal concerns about the accuracy of the Vant4ge algorithm used for risk assessment. The head of the state agency wrote, "there has not been consistency in how the STRONG-R training is delivered" and "there are errors in how the 'severity index' of specific crimes is coded in the Vant4ge software" which "affect the final risk and needs score calculations produced by the assessment." According to the contract obtained by EPIC, Nebraska committed to continue with Vant4ge until 2022. EPIC previously pursued several lawsuits to obtain information about "predictive policing" and "future crime prediction" algorithms. EPIC obtained documents about pre-trial risk assessments as well as a scoring system developed by the DHS to assign risk assessments to travelers, including US citizens. EPIC has urged government agencies to make transparent algorithmic-based decision making.
