I strongly suggest businesspeople think about the interplay between “general legal issues” and “general use technologies“. I also strongly suggest asking me for a picture of myself with Paulie Walnuts when I met him at this boxing match–this is one of my favorite celebrity pics from my work trips to Las Vegas.
Innovations in AI-powered workplace safety—such as computer-vision hazard detection, predictive maintenance algorithms, and wearable biometric sensors—depend on proprietary software, data sets, and models. Businessowners often fail to recognize these assets may be protectible as trade secrets under federal and state law. At the same time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), through Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), plays a leading role in investigating and seizing stolen or misappropriated trade‐secret technology. Employers deploying AI safety systems must navigate this interplay of trade-secret protection, workplace safety obligations, and potential ICE enforcement actions.
Do not let the general concern for the obvious issues cause you to overlook other important considerations.
Implications for Employers
Risk of Unplanned Seizures: ICE may obtain warrants to seize laptops, servers, or cloud records housing AI safety code or data. Abrupt loss of these assets could do more than cripple safety systems and expose workers to hazard.
Biometric Privacy Conflicts: If ICE demands production of raw biometric inputs from wearables—such as gait profiles or facial scans—employers must have a plan to reconcile disclosure with your state’s statutes. In Illinois, this means compliance with notice, consent, and destruction requirements.
Potential Impact on Future Litigation: If you ever need to file a federal or state trade secrets case, proof that you showed concern over the proprietary nature will defend against arguments that the confidential information is not a trade secret.
Mitigating Risks
Establish clear data classification protocols that distinguish safety logs from trade secret repositories as soon as possible if you have not done so already.
Remember that a trade secret must be kept secret. Traditional protection such as encrypting proprietary models and restricting access via role-based permissions should suffice.
Confirm consent forms for any biometric data collection have been properly completed by each employee. That said, you may need to start at “GO” to have these consent forms drafted for you.
Instruct employees who serve on your response team and implement your response plan. If ICE knocks on your door with a valid and proper warrant (don’t get me started!), your response team’s actions should include offering details on how your trade secrets need to be protected. Then you need to follow up with ICE to ensure your trade secrets are not inadvertently shared with other companies.
David Seidman is the principal and founder of Seidman Law Group, LLC. He serves as outside general counsel for companies, which requires him to consider a diverse range of corporate, dispute resolution and avoidance, contract drafting and negotiation, and other issues. In particular, he has a significant amount of experience in hospitality law by representing third party management companies, owners, and developers.
He can be reached at david@seidmanlawgroup.com or 312-399-7390.
This blog post is not legal advice. Please consult an experienced attorney to assist with your legal issues.
Photo credit: The 10 Best Paulie Walnuts Moments On The Sopranos
