Press Invited to Attend Conference on the Surveillance Economy

WHO: The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is hosting the conference in conjunction with Vermont Attorney General and NAAG Eastern Region Chair T.J. Donovan. Attorneys general scheduled to speak include: William Tong, Connecticut Attorney General and NAAG Eastern Region Co-Vice Chair Karl A. Racine, District of Columbia Attorney General and NAAG President Maura Healey,…

Read More →

Improving Cybersecurity By Applying Consumer Protection Laws to Software

When a plane crashes because its aircraft control software has been incorrectly coded, the software manufacturer may be liable for damages. However, when a computer software application is incorrectly coded, leading to a major cyber-attack and interruption of international commerce, the vendor company which created the software almost never incurs liability. Why? Would amending consumer…

Read More →

NAAG Urges Facebook to Abandon Plans to Develop Instagram Kids

It appears that Facebook is not responding to a need, but instead creating one, as this platform appeals primarily to children who otherwise do not or would not have an Instagram account. In short, an Instagram platform for young children is harmful for myriad reasons. The attorneys general urge Facebook to abandon its plans to launch this new platform.

Read More →

Attorneys General Ask Apple and Google to Ensure All Contact Tracing Apps Serve a Public Health Purpose

Digital contact tracing may provide a valuable tool to understand the spread of COVID-19 and assist the public health response to the pandemic. However, such technology also poses a risk to consumers’ personally identifiable information, including sensitive health information, that could continue long after the present public health emergency ends.

Read More →

Social Security Administration Should Implement New Database

Consumers in our respective jurisdictions continue to contact us about the growing problem of identity fraud. The fraud comes in various forms and causes various harms, including monetary loss, damage to credit score, and detriment to personal security. As both law enforcement officials and advisors to government agencies, we know the challenges of keeping government systems a step ahead of fraudulent actors. Although the challenge may be great, we urge you to prioritize making your systems as nimble and strong as possible to combat this growing problem.

Read More →

State AGs Support Amendment to Communications Decency Act

In 2013 and again in 2017, Attorneys General from virtually every state and territory wrote to inform Congress of a damaging misinterpretation and misapplication of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) that rendered state and local authorities unable to enforce criminal laws against companies that actively profited from the promotion and facilitation of sex trafficking and crimes against children. To be sure, we are grateful for all the work you have done to protect the vulnerable among us. To bootstrap your efforts, we renew our recommendation for a modest but necessary amendment to the CDA. We must enable our state and local authorities to protect our citizens, including the most vulnerable among us, and to take appropriate action against criminal actors.

Read More →

Corporate and Government Responsibility to Protect Data and Assist Law Enforcement

This article will examine the current state of affairs with respect to protecting data and make some recommendations about how to ensure that corporations and government institutions take their role seriously to protect citizens’ personal information.

Read More →

Overcoming Hurdles to Secure Evidence from Social Media Companies in Cybercrime Investigations and Prosecutions

This article identifies primary hurdles international prosecutors face when attempting to collect evidence of a crime from social media companies and offers some recommendations to help reduce cybercrime.

Read More →

Global Cooperative Efforts to Prevent Cybercrime

Cybercrime is constantly becoming more sophisticated and neither criminal laws, best practices, nor policies addressing cross-border cybercrime have kept up with it.

Read More →

Protecting the Public and Vulnerable Populations from Fraudulent Scams on Social Media

Lilianne Daniel, Deputy Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey; Alberto De Puy, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of the State of Louisiana; Ye’ela Harel, Senior Deputy, State’s Attorney’s Cybercrime Unit, Ministry of Justice, Israel; Sang Hyun Kim, Senior Prosecutor, Cybercrime Investigation, Department of Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor’s Office, South Korea; Dufie…

Read More →