US state AI legislation in 2025: A discussion with Connecticut State Sen. James Maroney
Release Date: 01/31/2025
Former AI Act negotiator Laura Caroli on the proposed EU Digital Omnibus for AI
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
On November 19, the European Commission unveiled two major omnibus packages as part of its European Data Union Strategy. One package proposes several changes to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, while the other proposes significant changes to the recently minted EU AI Act, including a proposed delay to the regulation of so-called high-risk AI systems. Laura Caroli was a lead negotiator and policy advisor to AI Act co-rapporteur Brando Benifei and was immersed in the high-stakes negotiations leading to the AI regulation. She is also a former senior fellow at the Center for...
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'Privacy, Please!' Lorrie Cranor on why she wrote a privacy book for 4-to-6-year-olds
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
Lorrie Cranor has long been a leader in the privacy space. As Director and Bosch Distinguished Prof. in Security and Privacy Technologies at Carnegie Mellon’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute, Prof. Cranor is on the cutting edge of usable privacy and security. Her work has influenced researchers to view privacy as a fundamental design standard rather than an abstract ideal and has helped reshape the technology field with more than 200 co-authored research papers on online privacy and security. She has also served as chief technologist at the US Federal Trade Commission and...
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EU data protection enforcement and guidance: A discussion with EDPB Chair Anu Talus
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
Anu Talus was elected Chair of the European Data Protection Board in May of 2023. The EDPB, which was established in 2018, ensures that the EU General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive are consistently applied in the EU. It also provides general GDPR guidance, adopts findings to ensure the GDPR is implemented consistently across member nations, advises the European Commission on data protection matters, and encourages DPAs to work together. In other words, leading the EDPB is no small task, especially in an increasingly complex digital...
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Guest pod: Alex LaCasse talks AI governance with Brenda Leong and Andrew Burt
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
As artificial intelligence continues to coalesce in the modern economy, AI governance only grows in significance. Brenda Leong, director of ZwillGen’s AI division, and Andrew Burt, CEO of Luminos, have long been on the front lines of AI’s emergence and busy helping organizations navigate this space. In a first for The Privacy Advisor Podcast, we’re featuring a guest host, my colleague Alex LaCasse, a staff writer here for the IAPP. LaCasse has been covering compliance technology for the IAPP in recent years and recently caught up with Leong and Burt to learn more about their...
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Personal data defined? Ulrich Baumgartner on the implications of the CJEU's SRB ruling
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
On 4 Sept., the Court of Justice of the European Union gave its highly anticipated decision in the EDPS v. SRB case. In its landmark ruling, the CJEU clarified the definition of personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and, in essence, the scope of EU data protection law. For Ulrich Baumgartner, a partner at Baumgartner Baumann and IAPP Country Leader for the DACH region, the ruling demonstrates a continued "relative approach" by the court, but it also provides a significant clarification against what he believes has been an "absolutist" approach...
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On leadership in digital governance: A chat with Ruby Zefo
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
Ruby Zefo has long been a leader in the fields of privacy, data protection and cybersecurity. She was the first chief privacy officer at Uber, where she served from 2018, helping lead the company’s efforts to protect and enable user data. She has done so while Uber continues to innovate its technology amid a dramatic increase in digital laws around the world. Earlier this year, Zefo announced her retirement from Uber and her next move as a fellow at Stanford University’s Distinguished Careers Institute. IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy caught up with Zefo to discuss her work building...
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What makes an AI governance professional: A discussion with Ashley Casovan
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
Nearly a year ago, the IAPP expanded its mission in response to a rapidly changing digital environment to include AI governance, digital responsibility and cybersecurity law. The mission expansion took place a year after the IAPP hired Ashley Casovan to lead its first-ever AI Governance Center. Since then, Casovan has led the development of the center, which includes work helping to inform AI governance training and certification, a forthcoming AI governance textbook, and the AI Governance Global conferences. Casovan came to the IAPP after leading the Responsible AI Institute as...
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Behind the camera with "Privacy People" documentarian and privacy pro Stephen Bolinger
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
As the privacy profession surpasses the quarter-century mark and enters into a brave new world of artificial intelligence and digital entropy, it’s worth taking a look back to assess how far the profession has come. That’s exactly what long-time privacy pro Stephen Bolinger embarked upon when he decided to film a documentary on the rise of the privacy profession. "Privacy People" explores the veritable plethora of interpretations of the privacy concept through the voices of some of the profession’s most seasoned and respected privacy leaders. Bolinger said he felt there was a really...
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New York State of Mind: A discussion with NYC Chief Privacy Officer Michael Fitzpatrick
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
As chief privacy officer of the biggest city in the United States, it’s safe to say that Michael Fitzpatrick doesn’t have your normal, run-of-the-mill job. As part of New York’s Office of Technology and Innovation, the Office of Information Privacy provides guidance to more than 175 agency privacy officers across the city. It also works closely with the city’s Cyber Command and has partnered with the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights and the Biometrics Institute. IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy caught up with Fitzpatrick to learn more about his work as CPO of New York City,...
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Privacy in the age of robotics: A discussion with Erin Relford
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
Autonomous robots with embedded artificial intelligence are growing more common across industry sectors. So-called “embodied AI,” collects vast amounts of data through its sensors and changes how humans interact with technology. As embodied AI becomes more common and continues to drive innovation, it also creates new challenges for ethical uses of data and personal privacy. Erin Relford is a privacy engineer at Google and has worked in the embodied AI space. In a recent article for the IAPP, she wrote that “existing privacy mitigations may be insufficient for human-robot interactions.”...
info_outlineThough it came close in recent years, federal privacy legislation is not likely top of mind as a new administration takes the reigns in Washington, DC. The same likely goes for federal AI governance and safety legislation with a divided Congress and executive branch that promotes a deregulatory posture.
That means state-level privacy and AI bills will proliferate in 2025. Connecticut was the 5th U.S. state to a pass comprehensive privacy law, and Connecticut State Senator James Maroney played a large role in crafting his state's bill.
Maroney is now working on AI legislation and takes part in the Future of Privacy Forum’s Multistate AI Policymaker Working Group, which comprises more than 200 bipartisan state lawmakers and other government officials, with the aim to “foster a shared understanding of emerging technologies and related policy issues.”
IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy recently caught up with Maroney to discuss his work on privacy, his experience working with other policymakers in the multistate working group, and what to expect from AI legislation in Connecticut this coming year.