Leahy Joins Feingold, Sununu
In Renewing Oversight Bill On Government Data Mining
WASHINGTON
(Wednesday, Jan. 10) -- On the same day the Senate Judiciary
Committee opened its first hearing of the 110th Congress
on “Balancing Privacy
and Security: The Privacy Implications of Government Data Mining
Programs,” Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chairman of the panel,
joined with Senators Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), also a member of the
committee, and John Sununu (R-N.H.), in sponsoring an oversight bill
requiring the Administration to report its government data mining
program and activities to Congress.
The bipartisan bill is similar to earlier legislation
the three senators introduced in the last two Congresses.
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy
On Introduction of the “Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of
2007"
January 10, 2006
Text
of Bill
I am pleased today to join with
Senators Feingold, Sununu and others to introduce the Federal Agency
Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007. This important privacy
legislation would begin to restore key checks and balances by
requiring federal agencies to report to Congress on their
data-mining programs and activities. We joined together to
introduce a similar bill last Congress. Regrettably, it received no
attention. This year, I intend to make sure that we do a better job
in considering Americans’ privacy, checks and balances, and the
proper balance to protect Americans’ privacy rights while fighting
smarter and more effectively against security threats.
In recent years, the Federal
Government’s use of data mining technology has exploded. According
to a May 2004 report by the General Accounting Office, there are at
least 199 different government data mining programs operating or
planned throughout the Federal Government, with at least 52
different federal agencies currently using data mining technology.
And, more and more, these data mining programs are being used with
little or no notice to ordinary citizens, or to Congress.
Advances in technologies make data
banks and data mining more powerful and more useful than at any
other time in our history. These can be useful tools in our
national security arsenal, but we should use them appropriately so
that they can be most effective. A mistake can cost Americans their
jobs and wreak havoc in their lives and reputations that can take
years to repair. Without adequate safeguards, oversight and checks
and balances, these powerful technologies also become an invitation
to government abuse. The government must take steps to ensure that
it is properly using this technology. Too often, government data
mining programs lack adequate safeguards to protect the privacy
rights and civil liberties of ordinary Americans, whose data is
collected and analyzed by these programs. Without these safeguards,
government data mining programs are prone to produce inaccurate
results and are ripe for abuse, error and unintended consequences.
This legislation takes an important
first step in addressing these concerns by pulling back the curtain
on how this Administration is using this technology. It does not by
its terms prohibit the use of this technology, but rather provides
an oversight mechanism to begin to ensure it is being used
appropriately and effectively. This bill would require federal
agencies to report to Congress about its data mining programs. The
legislation provides a much-needed check on federal agencies to
disclose the steps that they are taking to protect the privacy and
due process rights of American citizens when they use these
programs.
We need checks and balances to keep
government data bases from being misused against the American
people. That is what the Constitution and our laws should provide.
We in Congress must make sure that when our government uses
technology to detect and deter illegal activity that it does so in a
manner that also protects our most basic rights and liberties. This
bill advances this important goal, and I urge all Senators to
support this important privacy legislation.
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