Declare Data Privacy Day

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.