Privacy 08 Agenda


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Privacy Hearings

Congressional Hearing on Employment Verification

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on employment verification. Several hearings have be held by the committee on the proposal to create a mandatory national government employment eligibility system. The current private sector system is voluntary.

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Privacy Rulemaking

Homeland Security Releases Final REAL ID Rules

The Department of Homeland Security released the long awaited final rule on state issued drivers licenses and identification documents. The rule indicated that the new federal REAL ID will be used for a variety of purposes unrelated to the law that resulted in the federalization of state issued drivers licenses. If states do not comply with the agency rule the drivers’ licenses held by state residents will not be accepted for air travel or to access federal government buildings. As a cost saving measure the Department of Homeland Security decided not to require encryption of the digital data stored on the REAL ID. The Privacy Coalition led a major anti-REAL ID public education campaign. EPIC's page on REAL ID and the ACLU's analysis of the new agency rule..

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Privacy Legislation

Congress Gives Administration More Wiretap Power

Congress gives the White House expanded domestic spying and reduce judicial oversight, through amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The new authority given to the President by Congress will permit warrantless surveillance of American citizens when one party to the conversation may be outside of the United States. This change in the FISA law which already gave law enforcement and national intelligence agenies great latitude under a special court which exclusively heard these request for surveillance of non-citizens. This change in the FISA law will leave millions of Americans subject to electronic surveillance, without court review, regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. However, the amendments will sunset in 180 days, which will provide an opportunity for further debate in Congress.

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DC Privacy Events

2007 Annual Meeting: Privacy Agenda 08

January 24-26, 2008 marked the 14th Annual Meeting of the Privacy Coalition. The meeting took place in Washington, DC and featured participation by privacy, consumer rights, civil liberties, and civil rights organizations.

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Campaigns

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Coalition Meetings

September 28 Privacy Coalition Meeting

The September 28, 2007 meeting of the Privacy Coalition featured presentations by David Gersten Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Civil Rights and Civil Libertieis Programs, Robert Mocny, Director of the Department of Homeland Security's US VISIT Program. The meeting also featured presentations by Susan Hunkler a privacy rights activist, Jim Harrision Director of the Identity Project, Lew Motby President, Work Rights Institute and a discussion on Fusion Centers.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2001

THE PRIVACY COALITION ANNOUNCES NEW PRIVACY INITIATIVE
The Privacy Pledge Sets Standard for Privacy Proposals in Congress
WASHINGTON, DC—The Privacy Coalition, a nonpartisan coalition of consumer, civil liberties, educational, library, labor, and family-based groups, presented "The Privacy Pledge"—the standard for future protection of privacy. Privacy is the major social issue of the information society and the top technology issue in the 107th Congress.

Member groups of The Privacy Coalition include: the American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Center for Media Education, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Project on Technology, Consumers Union, Eagle Forum, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), Junkbusters, Media Access Project, National Consumers League, NetAction, Privacy Foundation, Privacy International, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Privacy Times, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).

The Privacy Coalition invites members of federal and state legislatures to sign the pledge and thus protect one of the most important rights of Americans. The provisions of the pledge outline the necessary steps for future steps to protect privacy.

The Privacy Pledge reads as follows:

Privacy is one of America's most fundamental values.

The Fourth Amendment states that "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." In addition, the U.S. has adopted many laws protecting Americans from privacy invasive practices by both the public and private sectors.

Recognizing the need to protect this essential freedom, I, (insert Member's name), pledge to my constituents in (State and District) and to the American people that I will support a privacy framework to safeguard the rights of Americans in this information age.

This framework includes:

  1. the Fair Information Practices: the right to notice, consent, security, access, correction, use limitations, and redress when information is improperly used,
  2. independent enforcement and oversight,
  3. promotion of genuine Privacy Enhancing Technologies that limit the collection of personal information and legal restrictions on surveillance technologies such as those used for locational tracking, video surveillance, electronic profiling, and workplace monitoring, and
  4. a solid foundation of federal privacy safeguards that permit the private sector and states to implement supplementary protections as needed.

______________________
Signature

______________________
Date

The Privacy Pledge was publicly presented in the First Amendment Lounge of the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Monday, February 12, at 9:30 a.m.

CONTACT:

American Association of Law Libraries
http://www.aallnet.org/
(202) 662-9200

American Library Association
Washington Office
http://www.alawash.org/
(202) 628-8410

American Civil Liberties Union
http://www.aclu.org/
(202) 544-1681

Center for Media Education
http://www.cme.org/
(202) 331-7833

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
http://www.cpsr.org/
(650) 322-3778

Consumer Federation of America
http://www.consumerfed.org/
(202) 387-6121

Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org/
(202) 387-8030

Consumers Union
http://www.consumer.org/
(202) 462-6262

Eagle Forum
http://www.eagleforum.org/
(202) 544-0353

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
http://www.epic.org/
(202) 483-1140

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
http://www.uaw.org/
(202) 828-8500

Junkbusters
http://www.junkbusters.com/
(908) 753-7861

Media Access Project
http://www.mediaaccess.org/
(202) 232-4300

National Consumers League
http://www.nclnet.org/
(202) 835-3323

NetAction
http://www.netaction.org/
(415) 775-8674

Privacy Foundation
http://www.privacyfoundation.org/
(303) 871-4971

Privacy International
http://www.privacyinternational.org/

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
http://www.privacyrights.org/
(619) 298-3396

Privacy Times
http://www.privacytimes.com/
(202) 829-3660

U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)
http://www.pirg.org/
(202) 546-9707