Senate Resolution No. 3548

BY: Senator COMRIE

MEMORIALIZING Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim
January 28, 2018, as Data Privacy Day in the State
of New York

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to recognize
official months that are set aside to increase awareness of serious
issues that affect the lives of citizens of New York State; and

WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its
long-standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim January 28, 2018, as
Data Privacy Day in the State of New York, in conjunction with the
observance of National Data Privacy Day; and

WHEREAS, Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in
January 2008, as an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration in
Europe; this day commemorates the January 28, 1981, signing of
Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing
with privacy and data protection; and

WHEREAS, The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) officially
leads the Data Privacy Day campaign and is advised by a distinguished
advisory committee of privacy professionals to help the campaign align
with the most current privacy issues in a thoughtful and meaningful way;
and

WHEREAS, Data Privacy Day's educational initiative originally
focused on raising awareness among businesses as well as users about the
importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information
online, particularly in the context of social networking; and

WHEREAS, The educational focus has expanded over the past four years
to include families, consumers and businesses; and

WHEREAS, In addition to its educational initiative, Data Privacy Day
promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of
technology tools that promote individual control over personally
identifiable information; encourages compliance with privacy laws and
regulations; and creates dialogues among stakeholders interested in
advancing data protection and privacy; and

WHEREAS, Many examples abound of the perils of poor data management;
the recent data breach concerning Equifax-one of three major credit
reporting agencies-a company that handles the personal data of more than
820 million consumers and 91 million businesses worldwide, as well as
the employee data of 7,100 employers, is of prime concern; and

WHEREAS, Equifax discovered the breach on July 29th, and failed to
notify the public until September 7th, with an interim scandal wherein
high-ranking executives sold their company stock before releasing
information of the data breach to the public; and

WHERAS, Equifax has had a total of three recent breaches that have put
the personal information of one out of every three Americans at risk;
and

WHEREAS, Lives and livelihoods can be destroyed by theft of
identity, credit information, and the like, including the denial of a
loan or new credit card, removal from one's hard-earned state of
financial stability, and the mental duress of loss of privacy and
security of one's personal information and data; and

WHEREAS, The threat of data breaches and data theft continues to
loom large, and the instances of it continue to grow and plague more New
Yorkers and Americans each day; and

WHEREAS, More commerce, communication, and other aspects of the
daily lives of New Yorkers occur digitally, it is more important than
ever to be educated on the safe practices of data privacy and safety,
and to take steps whenever possible to increase data security; now,
therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim January 28, 2018, as
Data Privacy Day in the State of New York; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of
New York.