A bipartisan group of 12 senators is calling on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) internal watchdog to investigate the collection of biometric data from airport-based facial recognition technology, citing privacy concerns.  […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) formally proposed a rule on Monday that would protect Americans’ sensitive data from being sold or transferred to adversarial countries. […]

The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) watchdog found in a report out last week that the tax agency does not have “sufficient oversight” of the privacy and security of taxpayer data used in its Free File program. […]

Members of Congress are calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve data privacy, awareness, and website accessibility as veterans and their families fall victim to an uptick in scams by “claim predators.”   […]

Witnesses at a Senate hearing today strongly urged lawmakers to enact comprehensive privacy legislation, calling for robust protections for individuals and clear regulatory guidelines for businesses as they develop and deploy artificial intelligence systems. […]

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said today that artificial intelligence (AI) will be beneficial to Congress by helping lawmakers write clearer legislation.   […]

President Biden plans to sign an executive order (EO) today that aims to protect Americans’ sensitive data from “countries of concern,” the White House announced in a Feb. 28 fact sheet. […]

Coinciding with Data Privacy Week, MeriTalk sat down with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Chief Privacy Officer Kirsten Moncada to discuss how data privacy efforts are working to build trust in government, and the importance of teamwork in data governance. […]

There seems to be a clear, bipartisan consensus among lawmakers and tech experts that in order to pass comprehensive guardrails for artificial intelligence, Congress must first approve a Federal data privacy law – a goal that has been eluding lawmakers for many years. […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights warned hospitals and telehealth providers of potential privacy and security risks embedded in their websites and applications. […]

As emerging technologies like generative artificial intelligence take over media headlines and find themselves top-of-mind for both lawmakers and the White House, one organization argues that the country has reached a pivotal moment in the evolution of online spaces. […]

As it approaches any move to regulate the creation or use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, Congress should look to the state of data privacy laws in the U.S. – or the lack thereof – as an important guidepost in deciding the rules of the road for AI tech developers who must train their algorithms on massive amounts of data. […]

During the final day of the Summit for Democracy held last week, the White House launched a roadmap for both public and private sector entities to navigate the use of privacy enhancing technologies for user data. […]

While the House Energy and Commerce Committee has paved the way for a national data privacy standard, the United States has yet to pass legislation that would rein in Big Tech and put Americans in control of their personal data. […]

Protecting privacy and sensitive data remains a challenge for Federal agencies, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in the fourth and final report of its cybersecurity high-risk series. […]

President Biden’s State of the Union address delivered to Congress on Tuesday night featured a number of references to technology topics that touch Federal government operations and major tech-driven policy initiatives. […]

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., urged the National Science Foundation (NSF) in a Dec. 20 letter to secure Americans’ information within the National Secure Data Service (NSDS) platform using advanced encryption technology.  […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has updated its 2016 draft “De-Identifying Government Data Sets” – a guidance of do’s and don’ts for Federal agencies to ensure that de-identified data cannot be re-engineered to reveal Americans’ sensitive information. […]

Witnesses at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on September 14 urged action by lawmakers to wall off access to personal data of United States citizens by foreign powers who are hostile toward the U.S. […]

Two Democratic senators are urging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) component to end its use of facial recognition technology and purchases from data brokers to carry out deportation proceedings. […]

The Biden-Harris Administration is seeking feedback on a pending national strategy for privacy-preserving data sharing and analytics, according to a request for information (RFI) released today in the Federal Register. […]

A new legislative “discussion draft” that aims to create a stronger data privacy and security landscape for U.S. consumers would put the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in charge of the proposed new rules and would preempt most existing state laws on data privacy and security. […]

Pointing to harms that can result from the use of online data from children and teens, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. – an architect of early internet privacy laws – is continuing his years-long push for an update to data privacy laws to more comprehensively protect children in today’s digital landscape, and expand provisions of the law to protect all adults if possible. […]

The United States faces a data-privacy crisis and this crisis has created a groundswell of support for new data-protection laws, witnesses told members of the Committee on House Administration on Feb. 16. […]

Members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee at a September 29 hearing sketched out the latest chapter in a years-long debate about how to boost consumer data privacy protections – with the current options centering on a proposal from committee Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that would set up a new privacy bureau for that purpose at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). […]

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., reintroduced legislation today that would create the Data Protection Agency (DPA), which would serve as an independent Federal agency intended to safeguard Americans’ data and privacy and ensure fair and transparent data practices. […]

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, reintroduced the Data Care Act in the Senate on March 23, leading a pack of 17 senators looking to protect user data from hacks and hold companies liable for misuse. It is Schatz’s third time introducing the bill, having introduced similar versions in both the 115th and 116th Congresses. […]

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., along with Reps. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, are introducing bipartisan and bicameral legislation that would require the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support research on privacy enhancing technologies. […]

The Federal government switched to largely digital service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat is reiterating that data privacy and security efforts are crucial to the success of citizen interactions with digital technology. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Data Privacy Office said in an August 14 report that its use of Computer Matching Agreements (CMA) under the 1988 Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act (CMPPA) saved taxpayers several hundred million dollars in 2019 through the use of technology that enables DHS to compare data from multiple automated systems. […]