In the United States, transparency is the name of the game in privacy law.  (This is in contrast to the GDPR, which is focused on creating a “privacy by design” legal framework.)  Consistent with this trend with U.S. privacy laws is New York’s Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act (POST Act), which is expected to become law in the next month.

While the POST Act has been pending for years, the bill gained momentum in recent weeks in view of the nationwide protests following several killings by police of Black people, including the death of George Floyd.  The bill requires the NYPD to reveal details on the surveillance tools it uses to monitor people, including, inter alia, facial recognition software and cellphone trackers.  Importantly, the POST Act does not ban the use of any surveillance technology (unlike laws and corporate policies that have gained attention in recent weeks, which have banned the use of facial recognition software).