December 19, 2000
Thompson Applauds Final Passage of Legislation to Protect
Citizens’ Privacy on Federal Web Sites
WASHINGTON, DC — Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
Chairman Fred Thompson (R-TN) today announced that Congress
passed legislation to ensure that legislators and the public are
made aware of potential privacy violations on federal agency
Internet sites. The Thompson amendment in the Treasury-Postal
Title (Section 646) of the Consolidated Appropriations Bill
would require the Inspector General of each agency to report to
Congress on how the agency collects and reviews personal
information on its web site. The bill now goes to the President
for his signature.
"The American people have a right to know what
information is being collected about them on federal web
sites," Thompson said. "This bill will ensure that we
know about agencies’ data collection practices so that we in
Congress can make sure that privacy rights of citizens are not
being violated.
"The federal government should be setting the standard
for privacy protection in cyberspace," Thompson continued,
"But unfortunately, concerns have been raised that some
federal agencies may be engaging in information-gathering
practices that could only further deepen the public’s distrust
of government."
In June, the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP) was found to have contracted with an Internet ad
firm to use "cookies," information gathering devices,
to track users on the ONDCP web site. In response to a request
from Thompson, the General Accounting Office (GAO) performed an
audit of federal agencies’ use of cookies. In October, it was
revealed that many federal agencies were still using cookies on
their Web sites without disclosing their use. These practices
violate the federal government’s privacy policy.
The Thompson privacy amendment, which gives
agency Inspectors General 60 days to submit their reports, would
expand on the GAO investigation by requiring the Inspectors
General to report on all agency information-gathering practices,
including data interception systems such as the FBI’s
"Carnivore." A similar amendment, which applied
exclusively to agencies funded by the Treasury-Postal
Appropriations bill, was sponsored by Representative Jay Inslee
(D-WA).# # #
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