Chris Christie’s trip to Dallas on Jerry Jones’s dime raises ethics concerns; Washington Post, 1/6/15

Cindy Boren, Washington Post; Chris Christie’s trip to Dallas on Jerry Jones’s dime raises ethics concerns:

"The trip may comply with the letter of the law, but it’s still raising questions, especially given Christie’s George Washington Bridge scandal.

Jameson Doig, an emeritus Princeton University professor who wrote a book about the Port Authority, said Christie’s relationship and receiving of gifts from Jones “sends the wrong signal if Christie or any of his top aides appear to have a conflict of interest in their relationship to the Port Authority.”

“The governor ought to do all he can to avoid that conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict,” Doig, a member of a panel on overhauling the agency’s ethics rules and structure, told the Wall Street Journal.

The trip may have violated no laws, but it may prove to be a bigger blow to his image than just that orange sweater that became a social-media meme."

At Newark Airport, the Lights Are On, and They’re Watching You; New York Times, 2/17/14

Diane Cardwell, New York Times; At Newark Airport, the Lights Are On, and They’re Watching You:

"To customers like the Port Authority, the systems hold the promise of better management of security as well as energy, traffic and people. But they also raise the specter of technology racing ahead of the ability to harness it, running risks of invading privacy and mismanaging information, privacy advocates say.

Fred H. Cate, director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University, described the potential for misuse as “terrifying.”

His concern derived not from the technology itself but from the process of adopting it, driven by, he said, “that combination of a gee-whiz technology and an event or an opportunity that makes it affordable.” As a result, he said, there was often not enough thought given to what data would actually be useful and how to properly manage it.

At Newark Airport, the Port Authority will own and maintain the data it collects. For now, it says, no other agencies have access to it, and a law enforcement agency can obtain it only through a subpoena or written request."