Legislation
The Far Reaching -And Positive- Impact Of Europe’s GDPR
I have been talking about the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for almost two years. The regulation sets out a single set of rules for all companies operating in the EU. These rules were developed to provide people with greater control over their personal data and incentivize organizations to make meaningful changes to how they collect, process, and store that data. The GDPR is also the reason why you received so many emails last spring from sites that you visit and newsletters that you subscribe to asking you to update your information.
Wavestore And Facit Form Technology Partnership To Aid GDPR Compliance
Wavestore and analytics experts Facit Data Systems have formed a technology partnership to help organisations comply with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when managing their surveillance system. The GDPR regulation stipulates any person whose image is recorded on a video surveillance system has a right to seek and be supplied with a copy of their own personal data from the footage. However, the identity of any other individuals who also feature in any part of that footage need to be protected when the recording is shared with a third party.
Security Industry Association Applauds Signing Of Maryland Alarm Bills
The Security Industry Association (SIA) commends the signing of companion bills impacting alarm systems companies in Maryland – House Bills (HB) 645 and 1117 and their corresponding companion Senate Bills (SB) 662 and 927. In early 2018, SIA testified in support of these bills before the Maryland General Assembly, and they have since been signed into law by Gov. Larry Hogan.
SIA Applauds Funding of School Safety Grants Program
President Donald Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 which among other provisions would reauthorize and restore funding for school safety grants administered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The new law provides $25 million immediately for school security technology and equipment in addition to emergency communications systems and other coordination with law enforcement to enhance response capabilities. Administered through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), $33 million is authorized annually for the program beginning next year.
Genetec Helps North American Security Directors Get Ready For GDPR At ISC West
Genetec is urging North American security directors to get ready for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While the initiative is led by the European Union, the territorial scope of the GDPR is global. As of May 25, 2018, any business that is collecting or storing personally identifiable information (PII) of EU citizens (including surveillance video, cardholder information and activities tracked by an access control system, and license plate numbers captured by an automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) system) will be held accountable, regardless of where the organization is based.
ASIS International Commends STOP School Violence Legislation
ASIS International hailed passage of legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that will help increase school security by providing grant money for a variety of school safety measures. ASIS International is drafting a letter of support to share with key Senate offices as they consider this important legislation. ASIS members will be updated as action is taken by the Senate.
SIA Supports Senate’s STOP School Violence Act
The Security Industry Association (SIA) strongly supports S. 2495, the Students, Teachers and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018, introduced by a bipartisan coalition of 25 U.S. senators led by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The legislation would fund school security improvements and invest in prevention programs to stop school violence before it happens.
ASIS Announces 2018 Commission on Standards and Guidelines
ASIS International announce its 2018 Commission on Standards and Guidelines. The 28-member commission ensures the standards and guidelines development process is voluntary, non proprietary, and consensus-based, utilizing the knowledge, experience, and expertise of ASIS members and the global security community.
SIA Favors Tax Reform Law For Security And Fire Protection Systems
The Security Industry Association (SIA) led a coalition of industry groups urging negotiators to accept a Senate-backed provision for tax reform to expand deductions under Section 179 of the IRS tax code, which empowers businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased or financed during the tax year. The revised tax code permanently expands eligibility for deductions to fire protection, alarm, and security systems, along with other equipment, placed in service in 2018 and beyond.
SIA-Led Coalition Urges Congress To Include Business Expensing Reforms In Tax Overhaul
The Security Industry Association (SIA) recently led a group of eight industry associations in urging the House and Senate tax writing committees to strengthen business expensing provisions in the final version of tax overhaul legislation under consideration in Congress. Under current IRS regulations, customers must capitalize the cost of security and life safety systems over the 39-year depreciation life for buildings.
Clinton Township MI Requires Video Surveillance For Certain Businesses
In Clinton Township, Michigan, a growing number of businesses will be able to provide recorded video from a new required surveillance system. Michigan’s most populated township recently enacted a local ordinance requiring certain businesses —such as banks, liquor stores, firearms dealers and coin dealers— to install video surveillance systems.
SIA Endorses Border Security For America Act, H.R. 3548
The Security Industry Association (SIA) has endorsed H.R. 3548, the Border Security for America Act of 2017 (BSAA), authored by House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul, R.-Texas, and co-sponsored by more than 60 members of Congress.
NY Bill Would Enable Lawsuit For Nonconsensual Backyard Surveillance
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently signed a bill into law that allows homeowners to sue a neighbor for invasion of privacy if the neighbor secretly records recreational activities in the homeowner’s backyard. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Cathy Young, R-Cattaraugus County, and Assemblyman Ed Braunstein, D-Queens, builds on a 2003 law that made it a felony to videotape someone without their permission in an intimate setting where there would be a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a bedroom or bathroom.
NYC Bill Would Force NYPD To Tell Details Of Surveillance Tools
Legislation debated Wednesday before the New York City Council would force the NYPD to disclose some details about surveillance technology such as cellphone-tower replicators, X-ray vans, and license-plate readers. The NYPD also would need to adopt what lawmakers say are privacy disclosures similar to those of the Department of Homeland Security and other municipalities. Under the POST Act —short for Public Oversight of Police Technology— the NYPD would need to publicly disclose each item’s current and future “impact and use policies,” seek public feedback, and explain whether court permission is needed for deployment.
PA Senate OKs Bill For More Police Body Cameras
Legislation approved by the Pennsylvania state Senate on Wednesday seeks to clear legal hurdles for police departments to expand their officers’ use of body cameras, and it gives departments the discretion to refuse public requests for copies of audio or video recordings by officers. The bill, which passed 47-1 after brief comments on the Senate floor, would add Pennsylvania to a growing list of states that are setting statewide policy over the collection of audio and video by officers, including from dashboard and body cameras.
Iowa Legislature Approves Bill Banning Public Bathroom Video Surveillance
A bill that would block government entities from putting up surveillance cameras inside the bathrooms of public buildings has passed both the Iowa House and Senate and is expected to be signed by Gov. Terry Branstad. The ACLU of Iowa had been pushing for the bill after complaints from an Iowa City woman who noticed that a camera was focused on the sink area inside the Iowa City Public Library.
SIA Recommends School Safety Guidelines, Endorses Proposed Federal Funding For School Security Grant
In the wake of a tragic shooting in San Bernardino, California, on Monday, the Security Industry Association (SIA) pressed for wide adoption of school security guidelines developed by the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS), which prescribe a tiered approach for schools based on available resources. SIA also announced its support of proposed funding measures on Capitol Hill that would authorize matching grants for school security measures.
ASIS Lends Support To MAIN STREET Cybersecurity Act
ASIS International (ASIS), the leading association for security management professionals worldwide, today sent a letter of support to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for the Making Available Information Now to Strengthen Trust and Resilience and Enhance Enterprise Technology (MAIN STREET) Cybersecurity Act. The proposed legislation calls on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other agencies to provide a consistent set of resources for small businesses to best protect their digital assets from cybersecurity threats.
For Surveillance Cameras To Be Kept In Line, Rules Will Need To Keep Pace With Technology
It has been said that Britain has more surveillance cameras than any other country in the world. This proliferation of CCTV cameras led the government to establish a surveillance camera commissioner responsible for overseeing their governance – the only country in the world to do so. In another first, the commissioner has now released a national strategy for England and Wales to set out how CCTV should be operated and to ensure that cameras are used in the public interest.
Maine’s Resistance To Real ID Law Starting To Cause Problems, Legislators Told
The real-life impacts of Maine’s refusal to issue new federally mandated driver’s licenses and identification cards were on display Tuesday as lawmakers heard testimony on a bill that would bring the state into compliance with the federal Real ID law. Maine has been among a handful of states to resist the federal law, which requires digital photos on state driver’s licenses, IDs that can be used with facial recognition software, and the digital archiving of identity documents such as birth certificates or Social Security numbers, among other things. The states where residents will need identification other than driver’s licenses to fly on Jan. 22, 2018, are: Maine, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington.