NAAG Announces Formation of Center on Cyber and Technology

Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) has established the Center on Cyber and Technology. The new Center is dedicated to developing programs and resources to support state attorneys general and their staffs in understanding technical aspects of emerging and evolving technologies, conducting cybercrime investigations and prosecutions, and ensuring secure and resilient…

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Discussing Privacy Fallacies: Concluding Thoughts

Third in a Series  Talking about privacy is like trying to hug an octopus. The concept covers a wide array of practices and technologies, including targeted advertising, surveillance, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, biometrics and facial recognition, social media platforms and mobile apps, and online and geolocation tracking, to name just a few. Understanding all…

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Discussing Privacy: More Fallacies, and Why Context Matters

Part 2 in an Ongoing Series Data is the oil of the modern economy. That analogy, although it has become a cliché, seems even more apt when you dig deeper. A century ago, we were building our economy around the suddenly ubiquitous flow of oil. We didn’t assign much weight to the externalities in our…

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51 Attorneys General Urge Efforts to Stop Robocallers from Misusing Legitimate Phone Numbers

Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) today wrote the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of its efforts to reduce illegal robocallers’ access to legitimate phone numbers to make unending robocalls that scam people out of their hard-earned money. The comment letter to the FCC was signed by all 50 state…

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Debunking the Privacy Fallacies

This is the first in a series of articles about privacy-related issues that may be of interest to state attorneys general. When I was in law school, “privacy law” wasn’t really discussed. Today, it seems like all anyone can talk about. That might be because I work on privacy and data security matters for the…

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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,…

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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.

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NAAG Supports Amendment to the Communications Decency Act

Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is endorsing an amendment to the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA). The amendment would ensure state and local authorities have the power to take action against criminals who are profiting from illegal online activity. The CDA was initially intended to protect minors from obscene and indecent material…

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State Attorneys General Join Federal Agencies in Tech Support Scam Sweep

Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), with the support of the NAAG Consumer Protection Committee, has partnered with several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to crackdown on tech support scams. The sweep was announced during a press conference today at DOJ. Tech support…

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Ethics Corner: Prosecutors and PowerPoints

With courts embracing the use of modern technology during trials, prosecutors have turned to PowerPoints in closing arguments to summarize the evidence presented to the jury. The Ethics Corner summarizes cases where appellate courts found that prosecutors had committed professional misconduct in those presentations and gives practice points as to how prosecutors might use presentations ethically and effectively.

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