Privacy Coalition

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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The Privacy Coalition is a nonpartisan coalition of consumer, civil liberties, educational, family, library, labor, and technology organizations that have agreed to the Privacy Pledge. Members of the coalition have been meeting since 1995, but formalized the organization in February 2001. View a list of member organizations.

Latest Posts

FTC Chair Speaks with Privacy Coalition at June Meeting

July 15, 2008

William Kovacic, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, participated in the Privacy Coalition's June 2008 meeting. Emily Andrew, Chief Privacy Officer with the US Postal Service also met with the coalition at the same meeting.

Posted by EPIC on July 15, 2008 | TrackBack(0)

Guest Speaker Chair of the Election Assistance Commission

July 2, 2008

Rosemary Rodriguez, the Chair of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) met with the Privacy Coalition to talk about transparency and privacy in public elections. The chair of the EAC spoke at the April meeting of the Privacy Coalition.

Posted by EPIC on July 2, 2008 | TrackBack(0)

Medical ID Theft Threatens Finances and Lives

June 5, 2008

Medical identity theft adds a new twist to identity theft by potential creating not only financial problems, but health risks. The theft of health insurance coverage to obtain health care can add erroneous information to the health records of victims. These changes to health records may go unnoticed, if ever detected, for years before they are caught. Medical treatment might also be negatively impacted by the theft of medical insurance by medical identity thieves. Proposals to create e-transfers of medical records may also add problems for securing the information from unauthorized use.

Medical ID Theft can injure finances, endanger lives, Dallas Morning News, June 2, 2008

Posted by EPIC on June 5, 2008 | TrackBack(0)

President Signs Genetic Nondiscrimination Act

May 30, 2008

President Bush has signed in law the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. The Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment. However, the Act does not address the privacy risks associated with the collection and storage of electronic health records. Genetic Privacy is one of the more recent additions to the list of privacy rights.

Posted by EPIC on May 30, 2008 | TrackBack(0)

Computers Freedom and Privacy Holds 18th Annual Meeting

The 18th Annual Computers Freedom and Privacy meeting was in New Haven Connecticut May 20-24, 2008. The theme of this year's meeting was Technology Policy 08 and featured discussions on e-Deceptive Campaign Practices; Social Networks and User Generated Content; and New Challenges for Spyware Policy. CFP 2008 is focused on technology policy, noting "This election year will be the first to address US technology policy in the information age as part of our national debate."

Posted by EPIC on May 30, 2008 | TrackBack(0)