Tribune News Service

After San Francisco's recent ban on public agencies using facial recognition technology, Oakland and Berkeley may consider similar rulings.

Voicing a sentiment heard in other municipalities with similar plans, a legislator who helped make the initiative a reality questioned why Silicon Valley should be the state's only tech hub.

Stanislaus County can still use its equipment in November, but supervisors will consider an agreement that could bring a new tabulation system to the agency in time for the California presidential primary.

A new report says some parts of the region are in the digital dark, without in-home access to high-speed Internet, and that some state and federal funding opportunities have been missed.

Data analytics, blockchain, cybersecurity, 5G and mobile payments are among the technologies that the financial-technology sector is looking at as part of the plan to incubate more startups.

The California Independent System Operator works closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI when the system operator receives "threat indicators." Federal authorities pursue it from there.

The county’s plan features the installation of software, workstations and remote servers allowing supervisors at Central Juvenile Hall — and management in the department’s headquarters in Downey — to view the videos. The design and installation of the system is expected to take 21 months, county officials said.

The deal represents roughly 13 times Tableau’s 2018 sales, but is believed to give Salesforce access to data analytics and visualization tools that are key to digital transformation.

A powerful technology, facial recognition is coming under state, local and federal scrutiny.

Marin County is now officially in the works on acquiring a new voting system and redoing its traditional polling model.

'These are common sense steps to ensure public safety. They are not unattainable or impractical. This is something providers can do, working with local counties and communities, to make happen, so we're better prepared for the next emergency.' — Ana Maria Johnson of the Public Advocates Office of the California Public Utilities Commission.

She's departing the department in a period of reconstruction, as the state grapples with dilapidated roads and highways and a $137 billion maintenance backlog.

Amazon confirmed earlier this year that the company has technicians who listen to recordings collected by its Alexa devices, but only as a way to improve the technology. But critics have said that customers have no idea they're being recorded by the smart speakers, which are growing in popularity.

Uber and tech vendor RapidSOS partnered to enhance the ride-share company's in-app emergency button for 911 dispatch. Sacramento's police chief said his agency is the first in the area to deploy the technology.

A highlight of the week will likely be the "unicorn" panel on May 31, featuring executives from San Diego's latest technology startups valued at over $1 billion.

While the plan has gained support from privacy advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, some law enforcement groups worry that the bill would make it more difficult for officers to do their job and crack down on criminals.

A new report produced by the state Department of Motor Vehicles comes in response to recommendations from a DMV strike team created by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It offers several ideas on how to improve operations at the troubled agency.

Currently, telephone companies aren't obligated to report real-time information about service outages, such as where the outage is located, how many people are affected or when they expect repairs to be completed.

While announcing his revised spending proposal Thursday, Newsom said he still wanted the money to come through for the 2019-20 budget but wasn't sure that it would: "We can't count on anything in life. Life's uncertain."

As the April 2018 deadline neared to launch the state's Motor Voter program, California Department of Technology and DMV officials grappled with significant "show stopper" defects and worked to test the new system before making it live. Thousands of errors followed the deployment, timed to register residents ahead of the June primary.

An Oakland commission voted recently to support a proposal that would ban the use of facial recognition technology by city departments, following in the footsteps of San Francisco, which is considering a similar ban.

The decision by the High-Speed Rail Authority to outsource much of the project was a miscalculation that has resulted in over-reliance on a network of high-cost consultants who have consistently underestimated the difficulty of the task, according to an in-depth analysis by the Los Angeles Times.

Since 2017, the system has seen an annual average of 1,054 auto burglaries, 387 cars stolen and 125 thefts of catalytic converters. Those numbers prompted the board to vote unanimously for a surveillance policy that allows BART to install four cameras that it owns and later pursue a contract for more.

Creation of the new role is part of a reorganization of the former Information Technology department with expanded services that include data analytics and performance measurement, user-centered service design and community engagement. The department has an annual budget of almost $5 million.

"I love public policy. And I love even more the 'How do you make it work better?'"