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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 Coalition Members Send Comments to NIST on Smart Grid Systems
Members of the Privacy Coalition urged a federal agency to establish safeguards for Smart Grid systems that protect consumer electricity usage information from unauthorized collection, use, disclosure, or sale. Smart Grid networks, which uniquely identify individual devices and appliances, create new privacy risks and could reveal intimate details of home life. EPIC recommended that policies be established to safeguard consumer privacy, including limitations on data collection, enforceable privacy practices, new security standards, and independent oversight.
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FISA Reform Bill Introduced in the House
Representatives Conyers, Nadler, and Scott introduced two bills today that would amend the PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Patriot Amendments Act of 2009 will enhance reporting and judicial oversight of law enforcement powers, including the National Security Letter process. The FISA Amendments Act of 2009 will place new limits on the government's ability to collect and store Americans' communications without a warrant and repeals retroactive immunity.
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Monthly Privacy Coalition Meeting Hosts Julie Brill New FTC Commissioner
Julie Brill one of the two new members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) meet with the Privacy Coalition. She wanted to hear from members about their concerns regarding the work of the FTC and their expectations for the agency moving forward. The meeting also featured discussions regarding Congressman Markey's new bill the e-KNOW Act to allow electricity customers to have access to Smart Meter data.
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Privacy Coalition Members Join Letter that Results in Howard Schmidt Meeting
Over 30 organizations including many Privacy Coalition participants, launched a campaign to obtain a meeting with Howard Schmidt, the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator. Groups joining the letter included the ACLU, American Library Association, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Liberty Coalition, NAACP, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Center for Media and Democracy, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The White House has agreed to the meeting, which follows Senate confirmation of Keith B. Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, to lead the U.S Cyber Command. Civil society organizations have expressed concern about the growing role of the NSA in cyber security. EPIC is currently in litigation with the NSA to obtain the secret policy for NSA surveillance authority.
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Mary Ellen Callahan Discusses DHS's Role in Cybersecurity
Mary Ellen Callahan, Chief Privacy Officer for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) met with the Privacy Coalition at its July 2010 meeting. She spoke about the agency's Cybersecurity programs that provide oversight and compliance for all of DHS and .gov. Congresswoman Jackie Speier's Legislative Counsel Erin M. Ryan also spoke at the meeting regarding a new bill on Financial Privacy Information. Other topics addressed at the meeting included: better FBI oversight and use of the Guidelines for Threat Assessment; Children as subjects of surveillance; the introduction of a new health policy advocacy network; and broader use of RFID tagging on consumer products.
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Meeting Calendar Archives
Mary Ellen Callahan Discusses DHS's Role in Cybersecurity
Mary Ellen Callahan, Chief Privacy Officer for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) met with the Privacy Coalition at its July 2010 meeting. She spoke about the agency's Cybersecurity programs that provide oversight and compliance for all of DHS and .gov. Congresswoman Jackie Speier's Legislative Counsel Erin M. Ryan also spoke at the meeting regarding a new bill on Financial Privacy Information. Other topics addressed at the meeting included: better FBI oversight and use of the Guidelines for Threat Assessment; Children as subjects of surveillance; the introduction of a new health policy advocacy network; and broader use of RFID tagging on consumer products.
Jon Leibowitz FTC Chair Met with Privacy Coalition in June
Jon Leibowitz, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission met with the Privacy Coalition for its regular monthly meeting. The Coalition also received a briefing by Jumana Musa, Policy Director for the Rights Working Group on the Department of Homeland Security Secure Communities Program. Jeff Greenspan, Campaign for Liberty provided a briefing on Arizona's SB 1070 law and its impact on federal access to state held databases. Odetta Wilkens, Executive Director of Equal Justice Alliance, on Animal Rights Activists and Enforcement of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act provisions, which allow prosecutions based on web page publishing of political views or reporting of protest events if any of the provision of the law are violated by protesters.
May Monthly Privacy Coalition Meeting: SSA Creating Option for Beneficiary Applicants to be Screened by Experian
Alan Lane, Associate SSA, CIO, Office of Open Government briefed the privacy coalition on agency efforts to create an online benefit application process for those seeking benefits from the agency. Part of this new process would allow Experian the credit reporting agency to verify the identity of applicants register online for benefits. SSA signed a contract with Experian and the SSA new application process is not expected to be available until early next year. There are privacy issues with the accuracy of Experian's records, the use of phone numbers or addresses to authenticate applicants, as well as rampant identity theft fostered by the credit granting industry because of how they authenticate people when granting credit. Dr. Latanya Sweeney, a Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science, Technology and Policy in the School of Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and Director and Founder of the Data Privacy Lab also briefed the Coalition on the privacy harms and uses of the proposed National Health Information Network's (NHIN) plans for sharing patient information when it goes into broad use in January. The Privacy Coalition has sought a meeting with National Coordinator Blumenthal on the issue of the NHIN and privacy. Dr. Sweeney identified several vulnerabilities in the current plan and stated that the planning is not considering policy approaches to minimize the potential harms nor create a matrix of approaches to the problem to better evaluate, which and under what circumstances each would be possible.
Privacy Coalition Members Join Letter that Results in Howard Schmidt Meeting
Over 30 organizations including many Privacy Coalition participants, launched a campaign to obtain a meeting with Howard Schmidt, the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator. Groups joining the letter included the ACLU, American Library Association, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Liberty Coalition, NAACP, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Center for Media and Democracy, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The White House has agreed to the meeting, which follows Senate confirmation of Keith B. Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, to lead the U.S Cyber Command. Civil society organizations have expressed concern about the growing role of the NSA in cyber security. EPIC is currently in litigation with the NSA to obtain the secret policy for NSA surveillance authority.
Monthly Privacy Coalition Meeting Hosts Julie Brill New FTC Commissioner
Julie Brill one of the two new members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) meet with the Privacy Coalition. She wanted to hear from members about their concerns regarding the work of the FTC and their expectations for the agency moving forward. The meeting also featured discussions regarding Congressman Markey's new bill the e-KNOW Act to allow electricity customers to have access to Smart Meter data.
2010 Annual Privacy Coalition Meeting
The annual meeting of the Privacy Coalition held in Washington DC on January 21-23, 2010 hosted discussions among activists, policy makers, government decision makers, and federal chief privacy officials. Congressman Bennie G. Thompson served as the Keynote speaker at the dinner held on Thursday evening. At the event Beth Givens, founder and director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, was presented with the EPIC's U.S. Privacy Champion Award for 2010. Meeting participants. Meeting Agenda.
November Mary Ellen Callahan Meets with Privacy Coalition Members
Mary Ellen Callahan, DHS CPO meets with the Privacy Coalition for the November 2009 meeting. This was the first meeting between the Privacy Coalition and the Obama Administration's Department of Homeland Security's Chief Privacy Officer. The hour long discussion covered a range of topics and ended with an invitation to Coalition members to participate in quarterly meetings hosted by the DHS CPO's office. Also speaking at the meeting was Dr. Marios Savvides, founder and Director of CyLab's Biometric Center at Carnegie Mellon University and a Research Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at CMU. He spoke about advances in biometric identification systems that go beyond the need to create databases of those enrolled for authentication purposes.
Privacy Coalition October Monthly Meeting
The October meeting of the Privacy Coalition featured presentations from Christopher Olsen, with the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Privacy and Identification Protection who spoke about the agency's work to re-access the enforcement of consumer privacy protection. He also briefed the coalition on the series of round table discussions the agency plans for December 7, January 28, and March. The October meeting of the Privacy Coalition featured a briefing by Prof. Joel Reidenberg and Jamela Debelak on Children's Educational Records and Privacy.
Miriam Nisbet Discusses Government Openness with the Privacy Coalition
Miriam Nisbet the Director of the Office of Government information Services for the National Archives spoke to the Privacy Coalition about the work of the office to provide the public with greater transparency on the work of federal government agencies. The Coalition also heard fromThomas Tamm, the former DOJ Lawyer who exposed the illegal government massive warrantless wiretapping program on the subject of FISA reform. Tyler Moran, Policy Director, National Immigration Law Center, briefed the Coalition on proposals for E-Verify a Department of Homeland Security project to screen applicants and existing employees against government databases. There are accuracy and privacy rights issues with the current proposal. Chris Calabrese, Legislative Counsel with the ACLU discussed Biometric National ID as part of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposals. Digital biometric identification systems are being discussed as a way to manage access to societal benefits and services. There are accuracy, reliability, integrity, privacy, and security challenges to using biometric ID systems.
Nancy Libin, DOJ's CPCLO Meets with Privacy Coalition
Ms. Libin, serves as the Department of Justice (DOJ) Chief Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer, (CPCLO) as well as the Department's senior policy adviser on privacy and civil liberties issues related to counterterrorism. Ms. Libin also advises the Attorney General on issues of privacy policy related to the Department's compliance with privacy laws and regulations. The CPCLO periodically reviews and investigates the Department's activities to ensure the DOJ is adequately considering privacy and civil liberties. In carrying out these responsibilities the CPCLO works, collaboratively with Department components and Bureaus such as the Office of Legislative Affairs and the Office of Legal Policy the Criminal Division National Security Division, and the FBI. Ms. Libin spoke to the Privacy Coalition at its monthly meeting in July.
Wade Henderson Executive Director for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Leads Discussion on REAL ID
Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights led a discussion on REAL ID at the 13th Annual meeting of the Privacy Coalition. This has been a major issue for the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties community during 2006 and will continue to be a top priority for 2007.
Dale Oak, Professional Staff Member for the House Committee on Appropriations Meets with the Privacy Coalition
Dale Oak, Professional Staff Member, with the House Committee on Appropriations briefed the Privacy Coalition at the February 2007 meeting on the work of the committee and privacy.
Ruchi Bhowmik with Senator Obama's Staff Briefed the Privacy Coalition on new Deceptive Campaign Practices Legislation
Ruchi Bhowmik, Professional Staff person, with Senator Obama's office met with the Privacy Coalition at the March 2007 monthly meeting to brief the group on a new bill to address deceptive campaign practices.
Juliet K. Choi, American Red Cross Acting Director for Preparedness & Response Meets with Privacy Coalition
Juliet K. Choi, with the American Red Cross, met with the Privacy Coalition at the May 2007 monthly meeting to discuss the issue of disaster relief and privacy protection for victims. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita the non-profit volunteer agency has worked with local chapters to develop guidelines on assistance to victims and data collection, share, and use.
Cindy Rosenwald, New Hampshire State Reprentative Meets with Privacy Coalition on Prescription Drug Privacy Law
Cindy Rosenwald, New Hampshire State Representative, who sponsored a law to protect Prescription Drug Privacy briefed the Privacy Coalition during its November 2008 meeting on her success in getting the law passed. The law is under legal challenge, and represents a good model for protecting prescription medical records from commercial use.
Karen Johnson, State Senator AZ Meets with Privacy Coalition to Discuss Bill to Regulate School Use of Biometics
Arizona State Senator Karen Johnson met with the Privacy Coalition for the May 2008 meeting to discuss her efforts to replicate legislation passed in the state of Illinois that regulates the use of digital fingerprint collect from school age children. The bill should it become law would represent the second successful effort to regulate the collection and use of biometrics in public schools.
Jonathan R. Cantor, Executive Director for Public Disclosure for the SSA Meets with
Jonathan Cantor, CIPP/G Executive Director for Public Disclosure for the Social Security Administration met with the Privacy Coalition at the May 2008 monthly meeting of the group to discuss his agency's work and privacy protection.
William Kovacic FTC Chair Meets with the Privacy Coalition
William Kovacic the new Chair of the Federal Trade Commission met with the Privacy Coalition at is June 2008 monthly meeting. The Federal Trade Commission is charged by law to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive trade practices.
Grisella Martinez with the National Immigration Law Center Briefs Coalition on E-Verify Comment Opportunity
Grisella Martinez with the National Immigration Law Center met with the Privacy Coalition during its July 2008 monthly meeting to provide a briefing on the E-Verify Comment request from the Department of Homeland Security. The meeting also had an update on E-Verify from Tim Sparapani with the ACLU.
Rob Randhava with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Meets with the Privacy Coalition
Rob Randhava briefed the Privacy Coalition during the July 2008 meeting on the work of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) on opposing REAL ID. The LCCR worked closely with privacy, civil liberty, consumer rights organizations to oppose the adoption of REAL ID regulations that would create the nation's first national ID.
Byron Charlton Government Relations Representative with the AFL-CIO Meets with the Privacy Coalition
Bryon Charlton with the AFL-CIO's Government Relations office briefed the Privacy Coalition on Card Chek and the Right of a Secret Ballot. Labor union organizing depends on workers having access to the option to form a union. He reported that labor organizers and workers who support unionization have faced dismissal or disciplinary actions by employers opposed to union shops.
David Vladeck Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection Meets with the Privacy Coalition
David Vladeck, Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protect met with the Privacy Coalition for it June 2009 meeting. The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection's mandate is to protect consumers against unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices. The Bureau enforces a variety of consumer protection laws enacted by Congress, as well as trade regulation rules issued by the FTC. The meeting also included a briefing by Professional Staff with the Homeland Security Committee on the recently introduced PASS ID bill.
Staff for Senator Barack Obama Spoke with the Privacy Coalition on the Protecting Taxpayer Privacy Act
Ian Solomon, Legislative Counsel, and Joshua DuBois, Legislative Correspondent, on March31, 2006, briefed the Privacy Coalition on Senator Barack Obama's bill S. 2484, the "Protecting Taxpayer Privacy Act." The bill, should it become law, would amend the IRS Code of 1986 to prohibit the disclosure of tax return information by tax return preparers to third parties.
Wendy Weiser Deputy Director, of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program Meets with the Privacy Coalition
Wendy Weiser, Deputy Director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, for the June 30, 2009 meeting of the Privacy Coalition discussed a Brennan Center proposal for a state-by-state national program for voter registration.
Joan Friedland Immigration Policy Director at the National Immigration Law Center
Joan Friedland National Immigration Policy Director for the National Immigration Law Center briefed the Privacy Coalition in June 2006 on the new I-9 Employment Eligibility Regulations. She described the goal of the project as turning drivers Licenses in passport cards.
Leahy Senate Judiciary Committee Staff Meets with Priacy Coalition about Data Privacy Bill
Senate Judiciary Committee Staff meet with the Privacy Coalition at the June 2006 meeting. They sought input on a data protection bill under consideration. Leahy and Specter have been working on developing a bill to protect digital information. The Privacy Coalition was asked by the committee staff to offer input into the process.
Frank Moss, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services at the State Department Meets with Privacy Coalition
At the June monthly meeting of the Privacy Coalition, Frank Moss, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Department of State for Passport Services at the Department of State, discussed the agency's plan to include unprotected radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in US passports. Privacy and consumer rights organizations have challenged the agency's plan to use unencrypted chips in all U.S. passports.
Robert Mocny, Director of DHS's US-VISIT Program Meets with the Privacy Coalition
The September 28, 2007 meeting of the Privacy Coalition featured presentations by Robert Mocny, Director of the Department of Homeland Security's US VISIT Program, and David Gersten Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Civil Rights and Civil Libertieis Programs. The meeting also included 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.
National Immigration Law Center Briefs Privacy Coalition on New SSN "No Match Letter" Policy
The Privacy Coalition was briefed on the new Department of Homeland Security SSN No Match Letters; FISA Amendments, Medical Privacy, and the new Illinois Public School Biometric Privacy Law.
July 2007 Privacy Coalition Meeting
The regular monthly meeting of the Privacy Coalition featured a tutorial on Fusion Centers by Mike German an attorney with the ACLU. Fusion Centers are the most recent effort by the federal government to establish an operational domestic surveillance program. The CRS report states that officials justifying the development of fusion centers use a number of presumptions, and that the goals of the centers seem to be unfocused with wide-ranging explanations on what they are intended to accomplish. The report outlined threats to civil liberties and privacy posed by the deployment of Fusion Centers, which have no laws governing them.
Bruce Fine Founder of American Freedom Agenda Meets with the Privacy Coalition
Bruce Fein, founder of the American Freedom Agenda was the guess speaker. He spoke of his organizations efforts to enact a cluster of statutes that would restore the Constitution's checks and balances as enshrined by the Founding Fathers; and, making the subject a staple of political campaigns and of foremost concern to Members of Congress and to voters and educators
May Privacy Coalition Meeting
Robert Cresanti , Under Secretary of Technology and Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Commerce meet with the Privacy Coalition in May 2007. Under Secretary Cresanti along with being the Department of Commerce's Chief Privacy Officer also serves as head of the the Department's Technology Administration. The regular monthly meeting presents an opportunity for privacy, consumer, and civil liberty advocates to keep abreat of issues.
March 2007 Privacy Coalition Meeting
The Privacy Coalition guest speaker was Peter Pietra, the Director of Privacy Policy and Compliance for Transporation Security Administration. The coalition also heard from Senate Judiciary Staff on the issue of Deceptive Campaign Practices, they were also brief by Jeff Chester with the Center for Digital Democracy on Policy Safeguards for Interactive Adversting and Marketing, and the use of biometrics in Illinois Schools.
Charles Raul, Vice Chair Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Charles Raul, Vice Chair, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with the Privacy Coalition at its July 2006 regular monthly meeting to discuss the work of the Board. He was joined by Mark A. Robbins the Board's Executive Director.
Privacy Coalition 2007 Agenda
The Privacy Coalition adopts its agenda for 2007, which includes issue areas that will be of the highest priority for privacy, civil liberties, and consumer protection. The coalition's top priorities for the year include encouraging greater Congressional oversight of the information sharing environment, comprehensive medical privacy protection, repeal of the REAL ID, block federal employment identification system, end the use of National Security Letters, and protection of voter privacy.
2007 Marks the 13th Annual Privacy Coalition Meeting
On January 25-27, 2007 the Privacy Coalition held its 13th Annual meeting in Washington, DC to review the lead privacy issues from 2006, and plan the privacy agenda for the year. More than 50 organizations participated in the meeting. This unique gathering of policy experts, technologists, consumer advocates, attorneys, and media experts form a think tank environment to deliberate ongoing and emerging threats to privacy posed by new technology and policy developments.
Annual Privacy Coalition Meeting Set for January 26, 2007
The Privacy Coalition will hold its annual meeting on January 26, 2007 in Washington, DC. This annual event attracts decision makers, privacy and civil liberty advocacy groups from North America. The topics range from the privacy implications of emerging technologies, to the challenges of policy making in the dynamic environments created by advanced computing and communication devices.
Doug Curling, President of ChoicePoint in a Candid Discussion About Privacy
Doug Curling the President of ChoicePoint spoke with the Privacy Coalition about the company's position on privacy related matters. It was the last monthly meeting of the Privacy Coalition for 2006. The December meeting closed a year of meetings that featured Charles Raul, Vice President of the Civil Liberties Oversight Protection Board, and Alexander Joel, the Civil Liberties Protection Officer for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
DHS Chief Privacy Officer Meets with Privacy Coalition
Hugo Teufel III, Chief Privacy Officer, with the Department of Homeland Security met with the Privacy Coalition for its montly meeting held in November. He addressed the group regarding the agency's work related to privacy and his interest in working with consumer privacy advocacy organizations. Teufel acknowledged the completion of the department’s Privacy Report, and took a number of questions from meeting participants on a broad range of issues including the Power Act, REAL ID, redress procedures for PNR Complaints and travel, and how the agency treats comments submitted in response to its Federal Register notices.
Toby Levin, DHS Senior Advisory on Privacy Meets with Privacy Coalition
Toby Levin, Senior Advisor, Department of Homeland Security attended the Privacy Coalition meeting to discussion the Chief Privacy Officer's role at the agency. The meeting also featured briefings on Department of Defense surveillance of domestic groups, NSA Surveillance Legislation, and Privacy and Immigration reform. A briefing on Privacy and Immigration Reform was lead by the National Immigration Law Center, Rights Working Group, and National Immigration Forum.
March 31, 2006 Meeting
Dale Underwood, Department of Treasury's Privacy Act Officer
March 31, 2006 Meeting
Dale Underwood, Department of the Treasury's Privacy Act Officer, and a briefing on Taxpayer Privacy Legislation, Update on Federal Remote Tracking Surveillance Policy, Patriot Act Renewal, and a Briefing on the REAL ID Campaign in New Hampshire. Dale Underwood, Department of Treasury's Privacy Act Officer
DHS's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee Meeting
In a Federal Register Notice published n
November 16, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 220), DHS announced
a public meeting of its Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory
Committee on December 6, 2005. The meeting will be held in the Capitol Ballroom (E & F) at the JW Marriott Hotel, 1331
Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. Those interested in
attending must register with the agency by December 1, 2005.
More information on the DHS Privacy Office.
Federal Register notice.
DHS's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee Meeting
In a Federal Register Notice published n
November 16, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 220), DHS announced
a public meeting of its Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory
Committee on December 6, 2005. The meeting will be held in the Capitol Ballroom (E & F) at the JW Marriott Hotel, 1331
Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. Those interested in
attending must register with the agency by December 1, 2005.
More information on the DHS Privacy Office.
Federal Register notice.
