EPIC, Coalition Object to Selective Service System’s Expanding Data Disclosures

In comments filed earlier this month, EPIC joined seven other peace, civil liberties, and privacy groups to reject a proposal to greatly expand the Selective Service System’s ability to disclose information to others, including to any law enforcement. That agency maintains the personal information of millions of U.S. persons subject to potential military draft, including citizenship and immigration status, banking information, addresses, and Social Security Account numbers.   

In a System of Records Notice (SORN) filed in December, the Selective Service System (SSS) proposed updates to several routine uses for three of the agency’s information systems. Perhaps most notably, SSS’ changes would allow the agency to broadly disclose information to any law enforcement authority if it believes that information may indicate even a potential violation of any law. This is unacceptable under the Privacy Act. Open-ended disclosure of information to unnamed law enforcement is not compatible with the purposes of SSS systems, violates the trust of affected individuals, and impermissibly increases the risk that the sensitive information with which the agency is entrusted will be lost, misused, or abused by recipient agencies.  

These risks are not abstract possibilities. In the last year, DHS and the DOGE have trodden over privacy protections to illegally access and consolidate personal information time and again. EPIC has fought them every step of the way and will continue to stand up against the federal government’s blatant violation of privacy laws.