EPIC Recommends Congress Amend Federal Data Mining Statute
Congress should amend the Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act to better protect privacy and civil rights against government data mining abuse, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said in a report Thursday.
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Enacted in 2007, the Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act requires federal agencies, particularly law enforcement and intelligence entities, to submit annual reports about data mining related to patterns of criminal and terrorist activity. EPIC said the statute’s focus is “too narrow” and allows agencies to “make self-guided decisions, apparently based on ease and interest rather than statutory compulsion.”
EPIC recommended amending the statute’s definitions of data mining to “include subject-based data mining activities that may intrude on a person’s privacy and rights without evidence sufficient to obtain a warrant.”