Panel Urges New Protection On Federal "Data Mining"

The Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee recommended in a report to the Secretary of Defense that legislative safeguards be set up to shield Americans' civil liberties when the government mines data files and computer records for evidence of terrorist activity.

"Our nation should use information technology and the power to search digital data to fight terrorism, but should protect privacy while doing so," the panel declared. The committee also indicated that solving the privacy issue will require a coordinated effort by the Defense Department, the president, Congress, and the courts.

Among the panel's conclusions was that anti-terrorism initiatives and constitutionally protected rights of U.S. citizens are actually endangered by disconnected and obsolete information privacy laws, while the Defense Department and many other agencies have been collecting data by monitoring emails and medical, financial, and travel databases in a manner not unlike the Pentagon's defunct Terrorism Information Awareness project.

The committee warned that data mining could have a chilling effect on dissent and activism. The panel proposed that the Defense Department and other federal agencies be disallowed from engaging in data mining without the approval of a special federal court, which would have to be convinced that the information is crucial to terrorism prevention or response.

The committee admitted that its recommendations would "impose additional burdens on government officials," but contended that searches based on "particularized suspicion about a specific individual, including searches to identify or locate a suspected terrorist," would not be impeded.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the New York Times (05/17/04) P. A12; Pear, Robert .