State Contract Computer Hours Verification (H 7788, S 2660)

Legislation under consideration this year would have required the use by certain state contractors of computer software to verify the hours worked on computers for that contract, but the ACLU was concerned about the inherent privacy issues in the bill.

Imagine that while you're reading this, your computer is taking a screenshot every three minutes and uploading it to a website. Are you sure all your open tabs are things you want other people to see? Legislation under consideration this year would have required the use by certain state contractors of computer software that did just that. The software is to verify the hours worked on computers for that contract, but despite multiple hearings on this bill, it remained unclear how the goal of providing real time access to data could be reconciled with the bill's language stating the software "must not capture any data that is private or confidential on individuals." The ACLU testified with concerns regarding these inherent privacy intrusions in the bill, and no action was taken on the legislation.