Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on February 14, 2024, that his office has opened an investigation into DeepSeek’s privacy practices. DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence company with ties to the People’s Republic of China, has been banned on state owned devices in Texas, New York, and Virginia. The Pentagon, NASA, and the U.S. Navy
Virginia
Three States Ban DeepSeek Use on State Devices and Networks
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Artificial Intelligence
New York, Texas, and Virginia are the first states to ban DeepSeek, the Chinese-owned generative artificial intelligence (AI) application, on state-owned devices and networks.
Texas was first to tackle the problem when it banned state employees from using both DeepSeek and RedNote on January 31, 2025. The Texas ban includes other apps affiliated with the…
Nineteen States Have Banned TikTok on Government-Issued Devices
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Security
Governors of numerous states have issued Executive Orders in the past several weeks banning TikTok from government-issued devices and many have already implemented a ban, with others considering similar measures. There is also bi-partisan support of a ban in the Senate, which unanimously approved a bill last week that would ban the app from devices…
What’s in the American Data Privacy and Protection Act?
By Robinson+Cole's Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Team on
Posted in Data Privacy, Websites
Congress is considering omnibus privacy legislation, and it reportedly has bipartisan support. If passed, this would be a massive shake-up for American consumer privacy, which has been left to the states up to this point. So, how does the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) stack up against existing privacy legislation such as the…
Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership to Lead FAA UTM Field Test
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Drones
The Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) was selected to lead one of the teams participating in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) traffic management (UTM) Field Test. The UTM Field Test is a research project designed to evaluate the technology and standards being developed to help safely coordinate and prioritize drone…
AI Can’t Hold Patents Because They Require an “Inventor” to Be a “Natural Person”
By Robinson+Cole's Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Team on
Posted in New + Now
A federal court ruled last week in Thaler v. Vidal (4th Cir. Aug. 5, 2022), that an artificial intelligence (AI) system cannot be listed as a named inventor on a patent application, affirming earlier rulings from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the lower court in the Eastern District of Virginia.…
Virginia Amends New Privacy Law
By Robinson+Cole's Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Team on
Posted in Data Privacy
Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia recently approved legislation to amend the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA). In a time when data privacy bills creep through state legislatures only to die in committee, Virginia has not only passed a privacy law, but has also now amended that law. Three bills were recently signed by the…
Utah Consumer Privacy Act Newest State Privacy Act Signed into Law
By Linn Foster Freedman on
The newest state data privacy law, the Utah Consumer Privacy Act (the Act), was signed into law by Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox on March 24, 2022. This makes Utah the fifth state to pass its own privacy law instead of waiting for the federal government to enact a nationwide federal law.
There are other…
Data Minimization: What Is It and Why Practice It?
By Robinson+Cole's Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Team on
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) first launched the concept of data minimization, which states that a data controller should limit the collection of personal information to what is directly relevant and necessary to accomplish a specified purpose. This seems like a simple concept: an entity should only collect personal information that is…
Colorado Newest State to Adopt Consumer Privacy Law
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Data Privacy, Websites
With the signature of Governor Jared Polis last week on the Colorado Privacy Act, Colorado became the third state (following California and Virginia) to adopt a comprehensive consumer privacy law.
We will provide you with a more comprehensive summary of the new Virginia and Colorado laws in the coming weeks, but for now, the highlights…