Rep. Gann studies citizen privacy impact of warrantless license plate readers

Gann Studies License Plate Readers Impact on Privacy

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Tom Gann, R-Inola, on Thursday led a study on the use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) and what he said is their use as a tool for mass surveillance allowing law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches. The study was held before the House Public Safety Committee.

Gann looked back at legislation governing the use of ALPRs, which statutorily may only be used to show whether an Oklahoma motorist has automobile insurance.

"We were at a crisis level in Oklahoma with the number of uninsured motorists," Gann said, "and the legislation we put in place helped us drastically reduce that number. Now, however, these cameras with the enhanced use of artificial intelligence are monitoring law-abiding citizens in details of their everyday lives. The data is being used well beyond what the law allows."

AG Drummond files suit to protect Oklahomans’ genetic information

Drummond files suit to protect Oklahomans’ genetic information

OKLAHOMA CITY (June 16, 2025) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond has filed a federal lawsuit to block genetic testing company 23andMe from selling the private DNA information of 15 million customers without their permission. He joined attorneys general from 27 other states in the legal challenge, arguing that the company's plan to auction off customers' genetic data as part of its bankruptcy proceedings violates consumer protection laws. 

Gov. Stitt signs bill to protect privacy of homemade food producers

Gov. Stitt Signs Bill to Protect Privacy of Homemade Food Producers

OKLAHOMA CITY (April 18th) – Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday signed into law legislation that amends the Homemade Food Freedom Act to protect the private information of producers.

House Bill 2975, authored by Rep. Rick West, R-Heavener, and Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, will allow producers of homemade food products to obtain a registration number to affix to their product labels instead of the current requirement that they list their name, phone number and the physical address where the food is produced on all products sold. The $15 registration fee is voluntary.

Drummond urges FTC to strengthen online privacy, safety protections for youth

Drummond urges FTC to strengthen online privacy, safety protections for youth

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 12, 2024) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond and a coalition of 39 other attorneys general are urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to update and strengthen the rules technology companies must follow under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Drummond said the update is necessary because the rules governing online privacy protections for children under the age of 13 have not been revised in more than a decade. At the same time, the digital world has evolved rapidly — with smartphones, social networks and connected devices now a big part of daily life.

State Rep. Josh West refiles Oklahoma Computer Data Privacy Act

Rep. Josh West Refiles Data Privacy Bill

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Josh West, R-Grove has refiled legislation that would require consumer consent for all personal data collection and sharing by major technology companies operating in the state.

House Bill 1030 would create the Oklahoma Computer Data Privacy Act.

"Major technology companies track our every conversation, our spending records, our movements and so much more and then sell that information so it can be used to socially engineer us through marketing manipulation," West said. "Or worse, this information is used to perpetrate financial crimes against our citizenry and to actively spread mass disinformation."

West pointed to a National Security Commission's 700-plus page report that explains how adversaries to the United States are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to enhance disinformation campaigns and cyber-attacks that identify and target American citizens. Big tech companies, meanwhile, are profiting off of the sale of such personal and private data that is meant to manipulate and coerce behavior.

The report revealed that America is ill-prepared for the next decade of technological development, and part of that is due to a lack of governmental action in regulating things like data privacy. The commission recommends legislatures pass meaningful data privacy measures to protect their constituents.

Among other things, HB1030 would require business operating in the state that collect consumers' personal information to fully disclose the information collected and how it is being used or sold in a clear and conspicuous place and allow consumers to opt in or opt out.

The law would apply to businesses with an annual gross revenue of more than $15 million or that share for commercial purposes the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers or that derive 25% or more of its annual revenue from selling consumers' personal information.

HB1030 is a revision of legislation filed the last two years by West and other lawmakers. The previous bills passed the House but failed to advance in the Senate. West said he's reached out to those who have been against the legislation and asked for any input to gain their support.

"One argument is the state could lose billions of dollars, but that is simply not true," West said. "And shouldn't we be more interested in protecting peoples' personal information than in a corporate bottom line?"

Another argument is that this is a matter for the federal government to address. West said he doesn't envision that happening any time soon.

West said Oklahoma is falling behind other states in this matter as other states have already passed similar legislation or are considering it in the interest of protecting their constituents. Three states have enacted comprehensive consumer data privacy laws. Lawmakers have introduced similar bills in eight states this year as well as numerous bills on biometric information, children’s privacy, health data privacy, data broker regulation, and automated employment decision tools.

The goal of his legislation, West said, is to acknowledge Oklahomans' Constitutional rights to privacy and establish that collection of personal data without knowledge or consent is a violation of such privacy. 

The legislative session starts Feb. 6. After that, bills will be eligible to be first and second read and must pass committee before being considered for passage on the House floor.

Josh West serves District 5 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His districts includes parts of Delaware and Mayes counties.

Dahm files bills on privacy, surveillance, and eminant domain abuse

State Sen. Nathan Dahm is on a tear during what he is dubbing 'Bill of Rights Week', filing legislation aimed at strengthening and bolstering constitutional rights for Oklahomans.

Featured in this post, two press releases on bills related to privacy, surveillance, and eminant domain abuse.

"Who's at church?" CDC tracked millions of phones for pandemic compliance

Bombshell report from Motherboard: the Centers for Disease Control "bought access to location data harvested from tens of millions of phones in the United States to perform analysis of compliance with curfews, track patterns of people visiting K-12 schools [and churches], and specifically monitor the effectiveness of policy in the Navajo Nation," according to documents obtained by the tech blog.

State Reps file bipartisan Data Privacy Act of 2022

Reps. Josh West, Walke File Data Privacy Act of 2022

OKLAHOMA CITY – Today, Majority Leader Rep. Josh West, R-Grove, and Rep. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City, filed the Oklahoma Computer Data Privacy Act of 2022. 

“The importance of data privacy legislation cannot be overstated,” West said. “In 2018, President Donald Trump created the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The commission’s 700-plus page report explains that not only are ‘[a]dversaries using AI systems to enhance disinformation campaigns and cyber-attacks,’ but they are also ‘harvesting data on Americans to build profiles of their beliefs, behavior, and biological makeup for tailored attempts to manipulate or coerce individuals.’ I will not sit idly by while private information like our biological makeup is pilfered by profiteering tech companies so they can get rich by selling our data and we can be exploited. I stand beside former President Trump and his commission, and that is why I am authoring this legislation in accordance with the commission’s recommendations.”

Walke said, “The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence explained that America is ill-prepared for the next decade of technological development, and part of that is due to a lack of governmental action in regulating things like data privacy. It is time that we heed the advice of security experts like the National Security Commission and pass meaningful data privacy legislation. We must be part of the solution and not the problem.”

Opt-in data privacy legislation passes State House committee

Opt-In Data Privacy Legislation Passes Committee

OKLAHOMA CITY – Bipartisan legislation to address concerns over data privacy and data manipulation unanimously passed out of the House Technology Committee today with a vote of 6 to 0. 

The Oklahoma Computer Data Privacy Act, House Bill 1602, requires internet technology companies to obtain explicit permission to collect and sell personal data. 

The legislation has bipartisan support and is co-authored by more than 40 representatives and senators. The legislation’s primary authors, Reps. Josh West and Collin Walke, see the bill as an opportunity to claw back privacy rights from companies that continue to abuse them. 

AG Hunter wants of privacy issues surrounding COVID contact tracing apps, sends letter to tech giants

Attorney General Hunter Warns of Privacy Issues Surrounding Contact Tracing Apps, Sends Letter to Apple, Google Asking Companies to Help Protect Consumers

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Hunter is warning Oklahomans that downloading certain contact tracing applications to their cellphones or computers could compromise their personally identifiable information, including sensitive health information.

In an effort to alert Apple and Google to these concerns Attorney General Hunter joined a bi-partisan coalition of 38 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, asking the companies to take steps to help protect consumers from this threat.

Attorney General Hunter said although there is proposed federal legislation to address the privacy concerns, there is currently no national standard for how the apps should work.

OCPA: Parents justified in student privacy concerns

Parents justified in student privacy concerns

By Jonathan Small

Recently, thousands of Oklahoma students’ names and home addresses were obtained from the Oklahoma Department of Education and used for mailers. Parents were understandably upset.

In Arizona, the state Department of Education released parent names and individual account information for more than 7,000 student-beneficiaries of a school-choice program. Parents were understandably upset.

But now Oklahoma lawmakers are telling parents not to worry about student privacy, even though newly passed legislation mandates reporting requirements that experts believe could allow identification of individual students.

House Bill 1230 imposes new regulations for the Lindsey Nicole Henry (LNH) Scholarship Program that include releasing LNH data by school site and recipient demographics including race, income, and disability. Families are rightfully concerned by those requirements because the legislation did not include student-privacy safeguards typically included in other reporting mandates.

It’s not unreasonable for parents to worry that it won’t take long for people to identify students by name if a report shows a private school has just a handful of LNH recipients and one is a low-income black child with autism.

Children served by LNH private-school scholarships either have special needs, such as autism, or are foster and adopted children. Many are survivors of abuse—including, at times, severe bullying in public schools that prompted suicide attempts before the LNH program provided an alternative. Why should the state make it possible for those children’s former tormentors to identify them and their new school? And why should the state allow anti-school-choice radicals to identify specific families? If you don’t think there’s reason for concern on that front, you have not seen the vitriol school-choice opponents aim at low-income families online.

LNH recipients are not unreasonable in expecting privacy to be safeguarded because those protections are given elsewhere to other students. For example, when state testing results are released by school district, the data is withheld in instances where the number of test-taking students is so low that reporting on results could allow identification by inference.

The children with special needs targeted by HB 1230 deserve comparable protections.

The Republican Party often presents itself as a champion of deregulation in the name of individual liberty and job creation. President Trump has slashed regulations at the federal level, which experts agree has contributed to strong economic growth. At the state level Gov. Kevin Stitt wants to cut regulations by 25 percent. So why has a GOP-controlled Legislature chosen to head the opposite direction when it comes to a program that serves needy children?

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs believes in accountability. But the troubling provisions of HB 1230 do nothing to deter or identify potential fraud. They only create potential hardship for families that already face more than their fair share of challenges. To make Oklahoma a place where more families can thrive, Oklahoma policymakers should stand up for those families, not add to their burdens.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

House committee passes bills protecting teacher and student contact info

Rep. Tammy West Passes Bills Addressing Breach  of Teachers’, Children’s Private Information

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Tammy West (R-Oklahoma City) passed two bills in committee recently addressing the breach of private information of public employees, including public school teachers, and children.

House Bill 3040 and House Bill 3460 will protect private and personal contact information for current and former public employees and Oklahoma public school students.

“This will keep third parties from being able to mine this sensitive information and capitalize on it,” West said. “This strengthens the language in statute to remove all doubt about how this information is to be protected and kept private.” 

House Bill 3040 shields certain private information, such as home addresses and phone numbers, social security numbers and private email addresses or private mobile phone numbers of current and former public employees from public inspection or disclosure.

House Bill 3460 allows all educational institutions to designate specific student information, such as a student’s name, address, and phone number, as classified directory information. Any educational institution that is not the primary custodian of the directory information, but that can access the directory for educational purposes, is prohibited from releasing or selling the information without written consent of the local school board. The State Board of Education and the State Department of Education are not permitted to designate student information as classified directory information, as stated above, but shall keep personally identifiable student information confidential unless authorized otherwise by federal law.

West said in the last month there have been two concerning breaches of private information. While such actions already are illegal, this legislation helps clarify the law and establishes expectations.

West said the language of the bills was a combined effort of the Oklahoma Public Employee Association, the Oklahoma Press Association and the State Department of Education.

Rep. Mike Osburn (R-Edmond) was a co-principal author of the bills and is chair of the House Government Efficiency Committee where the bills passed.

“Strengthening our privacy laws to protect our citizens’ private information should be one of the highest priorities,” Osburn said. “I was proud to work with Rep. West on this important legislation.”

Both bills are now eligible to be considered by the entire House.

Walke files bill to protect Oklahomans' email data

Walke Legislation Would Protect Email Data of Oklahomans 

OKLAHOMA CITY -- State Rep. Collin Walke (D-OKC) filed legislation this session to protect email users’ data from being collected by corporations.

House Bill 2810, dubbed “The Oklahoma Email Communication Content Privacy Protection Act,” would make it illegal for companies, like Google or Microsoft, that host email servers to glean information from users.

"Tech companies have profited off of our private information for years, and it's time we start reclaiming our privacy," Walke said. "House Bill 2810 is what I hope to be the first of many steps toward a more balanced and fair use of private information. 

“In its infancy, email was a quick and efficient communication tool.  However, in today's world, email is a necessity, and we should not have to choose between participating in modern society or having our personal information exploited. I no more want the United State Postal Service knowing when and how I read my mail than I do Google my email.  If tech companies want to be treated as public goods, then ensuring that they do not harness our information for their own personal benefit is an absolute necessity."