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[infowar.de] PM Sen. Wyden: Datamining - Anfrage an Dept. of Homeland Security
Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Press release, 25 Feb 2004
WYDEN QUESTIONS RIDGE ON DATA-MINING BY DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Senator requests response from Secretary on all efforts at Federal
agency
Washington, DC U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today called on
Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Tom Ridge to provide information on
all data-mining activities currently being undertaken by the
Department. Wyden, who questioned Ridge during the morning?s Budget
Committee hearing on homeland security funding, has long worked to
ensure
that the Federal government?s data-mining efforts respect Americans?
privacy and civil liberties.
?A whole host of information is being examined by government agencies
every
single day,? said Wyden. ?Congress is in the dark with respect to
what?s
going on in data mining, there are no privacy rules, and [taxpayers] are
spending money on this, and it seems to me that the public has a right
to
know exactly what?s going on.?
Wyden questioned Ridge about the amount of taxpayer funding being used
on
data mining programs at DHS, and whether any privacy rules are being
observed in the process. He asked the secretary to furnish for the
record
a list of DHS programs involving data mining, Ridge noted that DHS does
refer to databases of information on companies and individuals to carry
out
container, port and border security, and that the agency continues to
consider a Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System (CAPPS) for
airline
passengers.
Currently, there are no comprehensive privacy laws regulating the
federal
government?s access to, or use of, public and private databases. Wyden
has
introduced the Citizens? Protection in Federal Databases Act to hold
government agencies accountable for the use of private and personal
information. The bill would require the Attorney General, the Secretary
of
Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Treasury,
the
Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director of the Federal Bureau
of
Investigations to provide to Congress a detailed report explaining the
use
of databases for law enforcement or intelligence purposes.
Additionally,
it prohibits the use of databases to explore ?hypothetical scenarios? to
prevent government agencies from trolling through bank records, online
purchases, and travel plans without regard to actual intelligence or law
enforcement information.
In 2003, Wyden successfully forced the shutdown of the ?Terrorism
(formerly
Total) Information Awareness? program, a Defense Department data mining
effort that could have seriously infringed upon the privacy and civil
liberties of American citizens. TIA was originally conceived and
directed
by retired Admiral John Poindexter, the former National Security Adviser
to
former President Ronald Reagan. Wyden became the most vocal critic of
the
Administration?s plans for data mining, wrote successful legislation
requiring Congressional approval of their TIA efforts, and finally shut
down the TIA program in the Defense Appropriations bill when it became
clear that the program would cross the line to violate law-abiding
Americans? privacy.
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