Congress is now facing a key decision about the Pentagon's development of a massive tool to "mine" the data of innocent Americans looking for suspicious conduct - the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program.
Last month, the US Senate adopted an amendment ("the Wyden amendment") holding up deployment of TIA until basic questions are answered about its potential for error and abuse of privacy. But the amendment hasn't passed the House yet, and the Pentagon has begun to lobby against it.
CDT has set up a special web page where concerned citizens can find out who their Members of Congress are, with phone numbers, to call them and urge them to put some limits on TIA until basic questions about its effectiveness and privacy implications are answered.
The web site is http://www.cdt.org/action/tia/.
What is TIA and What Is Congress' Role?
TIA is a Defense Department research project aimed at developing broad sweeps of commercial data, such as credit card records, store purchases, travel records, Internet logs, and medical data - billions of bits of information about the legal activities of innocent people. The idea is to "mine" this data searching for suspicious patterns that may indicate possible terrorists. It could aid investigators if it worked, but so far no one has explained how to avoid errors that can result in people mistakenly being flagged as "terrorists" - and thereby subject to false arrests or being denied jobs because their credit card usage - or their housemate's credit card usage or the credit card usage of someone with a similar name - was suspicious.
CDT and many other privacy groups have raised concerns about the program, urging a moratorium on deployment of it against US citizens until basic questions can be answered. Better use of information in public and private databases is clearly needed to help prevent terrorism, but so far there are no guidelines on what data will be used, under what standards it will be accessed, how long it will be kept, how people will correct mistakes that could damage their employment opportunities, etc.
In January, the Senate passed the Wyden Amendment (sometimes referred to as "Amendment # 59") blocking use of the TIA program unless Congress specifically authorizes it after the Administration submits a report the amendment requires about the program and its effect on privacy. The amendment was added to the omnibus continuing appropriations act, the massive spending bill for fiscal 2003, which passed the Senate on January 24.
The Wyden amendment and other materials about TIA are online at: http://www.cdt.org/security/usapatriot/implementation.shtml#surveillance
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Next Step - The House Senate Conference Now Under Way
The Wyden amendment has passed the Senate, but not the House. The next big challenge is to preserve the amendment "in conference." The Senate bill must be reconciled with a House-passed spending bill that contains no provision on TIA. The House has appointed some of its senior Members to meet with senior Senators and work out the differences between the two bills. There is pressure to do this quickly, as the fiscal year is already 3 1/2 months old. To find out what you can do, go to http://www.cdt.org/action/tia/. You can find out who is your Representative in the House and how to express your views on this important issue.
Forward this message (through Friday, February 14, 2003) to other individuals interested in protecting privacy and responding effectively to terrorism.
** Many experts recommend calling Congressional offices rather than sending an email or fax. Studies have shown that personal phone calls by informed voters are by far the most effective way to make a difference over a short period of time. By the time the office reads your email, fax or letter, it will probably be too late to have an impact.
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Policy Post 9.04 Copyright 2003 Center for Democracy and Technology
