As New Yorkers scroll, surf and search their way to digital deals on Cyber Monday they have certain unique protections.

Last month, New York became the first state to enact a law targeting a practice, typically called personalized pricing or surveillance pricing, in which retailers use artificial intelligence and customers’ personal data to set prices online.

Tim Balk reports in THE NY TIMES that the law aims to prevent retailers from ripping off unwitting customers by abusing their data: jacking up the price of jeans for a shopper with a history of buying expensive pants, say, or lifting hotel prices for a traveler who already splurged on airline tickets.

Enacted through the NYS budget, the law requires retailers that use personalized pricing to post the following disclosure: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.”

The law attracted criticism and litigation from the start. Some business interests say it is far too broad and will cause confusion. And some consumers’ rights groups, who sought an outright ban of the practice, which is also called algorithmic pricing, worry the law is too narrow to meaningfully protect all shoppers from price-gouging.

But just about everyone seems to agree that the law…which in October survived a challenge in federal court…is a significant step in the nationwide push to regulate how businesses use their customers’ data.

There are bills pending in at least 10 states that would either ban personalized pricing outright or require disclosures, like New York. State lawmakers in California, a hotbed of A.I. development and regulation, and federal lawmakers in Washington are considering broad bans on the practice.

The push comes as technological advancements have drastically changed the internet and digital marketplace.

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A Riverhead man is facing a DWI charge following a crash on County Road 104 Saturday night, Southampton Town Police said yesterday. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Southampton Town Police and New York State Police responded to a motor vehicle collision with injuries Saturday at about 7:45 p.m., according to a Southampton Town Police press release. Responding officers found three vehicles involved in the crash, resulting in multiple people being injured.

Four people were transported by ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center and a fifth person was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash. Police did not provide information about the nature of the injuries. Ambulances from Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance, Westhampton Beach Ambulance and East Quogue Fire Rescue responded, along with the Flanders Fire Department to assist the injured and safeguard the collision scene. Southampton Police detectives and the New York State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit and Forensic Identification Unit responded to investigate the crash, police said. The road remained closed in both directions until shortly after midnight.

Police said that Erik A. Yatvelasquez, 22, of Riverhead, had been arrested and is being charged with Driving While Intoxicated.

The investigation remains ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact the Southampton Town Police Department Detective Division at 631-702-2230, police said.

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Get ready for a magical holiday moment like no other! The Village of East Hampton has confirmed with the North Pole that Santa Claus is making his grand entrance at Herrick Park—by helicopter!

You are invited to be there this coming Saturday on December 6th at 11:00 AM as Santa touches down in style to spread Christmas cheer. Bring your family and friends to watch this exciting arrival and kick off the holiday season with fun and festivities! This is a FREE event, and all are welcome!

Holiday Treats for Kids

Festive Music...

A Suffolk County judge has cleared the Shinnecock Nation Board of Trustees of contempt of court over the operation of two electronic billboards on Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays, in defiance of a 2019 restraining order — but instead held two commercial advertising companies that built and operate the billboards in contempt. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the judge also ordered that the billboards be shut down, in accordance with a 2024 ruling from a higher court.

The “defendants shall immediately cease operation of the billboards and advertising displays located within the State of New York’s right-of-way on New York State Route 27,” Supreme Court Justice Maureen Licccione wrote in a ruling handed down on Monday afternoon.

Shinnecock Nation Tribal Trustee Chairwoman Lisa Goree said the tribe has no intention of ordering the billboards turned off. “We’re definitely not turning those signs off,” she said yesterday after reading the ruling.

Justice Liccione ruled that the two commercial defendants, IDON Media and Iconic Digital Display, had violated a restraining order that was in place starting May 2019 barring the construction and operation of the billboards. She ordered the two companies, which are owned by the same person, to pay fines of just $250 each, plus unspecified attorneys’ fees to the State Department of Transportation for the costs of arguing the contempt charge. Chairwoman Goree said that she did not expect the “slap on the wrist” of the $250 fines imposed against Iconic and IDON Media and their principal, Larry Clark, to spur the company to break its contract with the tribe and shut down the billboards.

She reiterated the tribe’s belief that the state claims of authority over the Route 27 right-of-way in Hampton Bays are flawed because the easement was not created through a legal process in dealing with Indigenous nations.

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It’s official. Challenger Jerry Halpin has ousted Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard. Halpin narrowly defeated Hubbard by a margin of 37 votes, according to official results released by the Suffolk County Board of Elections Tuesday afternoon. The final tally came after the completion of a manual recount of all votes cast, which began Monday morning and concluded yesterday. The final tally was 3,958 votes for Halpin to 3,921 votes for Hubbard. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Hubbard, a Republican who served on the Riverhead Town Board for eight years before being elected supervisor in 2023, was seeking re-election to a second term as supervisor. Halpin, a newcomer to electoral politics, is pastor at the North Shore Christian Church in Riverhead. “I look forward to getting to work and putting the taxpayers first,” the supervisor-elect told Riverheadlocal.com. “I’m excited. I want to get to work. I plan on leading well and leading by example— servant leadership with humility,” Halpin said. “We will lead our town together,” he said, referring to the rest of the Town Board. Halpin, who is not registered to any political party, will take his seat as the only member of the Riverhead Town Board who is not a Republican.

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The 49th annual Turkey Trots start at 10 a.m. tomorrow...that's Thanksgiving morning at The Circle in downtown Montauk. Jack Graves reports on 27east.com that there were 1,012 who finished these 3- and 6-mile races around Fort Pond two years ago. And last year, while the weather was said to be the snottiest in the races’ history, 600 or so celebrants of all ages flocked together. Proceeds from this event which began in 1976, go to food pantries in the Town of East Hampton.

Medals are awarded to racers male and female of all ages.

For more information and to sign up, go to events.elitefeats.com/25mtktt.

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Electoral

Long Island’s native nations gathered at a Kew Gardens cemetery Saturday morning to honor the lives and mark the premature deaths of two boys sent to a Pennsylvania boarding school for Indian "assimilation" more than 125 years ago. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that leaders of the Unkechaug and Matinecock nations, and members of the Shinnecock, Setauket and Montaukett tribes, led ceremonies and songs of remembrance and healing over two newly installed headstones for the boys and their four young sisters on ground that lay unmarked for more than a century.

Charles Edward Jones and Harry Jefferson Jones both died in 1900 at the ages of 15 and 11, respectively, after returning home with tuberculosis contracted at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, tribal leaders said. They were the children of Jane Davis Waters, of the Unkechaug nation, and Charles Waters, of the Shinnecock and Montaukett nations, the leaders said.

Harry Wallace, chief of the Unkechaug Indian Nation reservation near Mastic, said the boys’ deaths were "the result of practices of abuse at most of these schools, of horrific conditions, and military-style execution of policy." Their stated goal to "kill the Indian but save the man," he said "not only killed the Indian, they killed the man as well. [Killed] the boy."

Wallace said abuse suffered by indigenous children at the boarding schools has had a lasting impact on native communities across North America.

"The legacy of abuse and genocidal practices has affected every native community in North American," he said. "You have that generational trauma that is ongoing and continuing."

Shane Weeks, who led drum playing and song at the grave site. called the ceremony "a moment of remembering and healing."

Chenae Bullock, a Shinnecock member with shared Montaukett ancestry, said while remembrance for the Jones children was "a long time coming," she also expressed gratitude at "all the humans that are gathered around [today], not just native people but all people" to honor them.

"I think it’s just so beautiful," she said. "It just shows there’s so much more we can do together."

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Cellphones and tablets in FedEx boxes were stolen from home porches in 31 Suffolk County communities by 14 individuals working in concert, according to indictments announced yesterday. James T. Madore reports in NEWSDAY that Ray Tierney, the county’s district attorney, estimated that "hundreds of phones were taken in acts of porch piracy" between October 2023 and February of this year.

The defendants face 50 felony charges; if convicted, they could spend years in prison.

"These indictments demonstrate that we will track down and hold accountable those who commit crimes against Suffolk County residents, regardless of how extensive their operation," Tierney said.

Most of the defendants are Bronx residents; one lives in Valley Stream, according to the indictments.

The defendants allegedly hacked computer systems to find out when phones and other electronic devices would be delivered to the homes of Verizon and AT&T customers. The defendants had the customer’s name, address, device types and FedEx shipment tracking numbers, the indictments state.

He added that some of the thefts involved acts of violence such as throwing a FedEx driver to the ground in Hauppauge and forcibly taking a package from a Suffolk resident.

Suffolk prosecutors discovered the ring more than two years ago when they were looking into why there had been a spike in package thefts from front porches throughout the county.

D.A. Tierney said Monday "the investigation is ongoing" with help from federal and New York City law enforcement. More than 200 stolen phones and other electronic devices, and about $120,000 in cash, have been recovered so far.

Asked how residents can protect themselves from porch...