According to MediaPost, the Arkansas House of Representatives has given final approval to Senate Bill 396, also known as the Social Media Safety Act. The bill closely resembles Utah's social media legislation, focusing on age verification and requiring parental consent for minors under the age of 18 to use such platforms. The bill is expected to take effect on September 1, pending the governor's signature.

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A database of court fines and utility bill payments by Arkansas and Oklahoma residents was left exposed online, TechCrunch reports. The unprotected data was posted to a hacking forum and contained three years of transactions through November 2019.

The exposed data included names, addresses, and payment information for 79,000 transactions on courtpay.org and 64,000 transactions on utilitypay.org. The data was exposed for at least five months.

The nCourt website, which hosted the data, has since been taken offline. However, the data has already been downloaded by hackers and could be used for identity theft or other malicious purposes.

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According to StateScoop, Jennifer Davis, a former software developer and attorney, was been appointed as the first Chief Privacy Officer for the Arkansas Department of Information Systems. In collaboration with Richard Wang, the state's Chief Data Officer, Davis will be responsible for ensuring that state agencies comply with privacy laws and addressing privacy-related challenges associated with data handling practices. Davis emphasized the significance of safeguarding data, citing firsthand experience with the consequences of unintentional data disclosure. She expressed the importance of citizen trust in the government's commitment to protecting their data and using it responsibly.