THOMPSON: PRELIMINARY REPORTS REVEAL CONTINUED
AGENCY VIOLATIONS OF ADMINISTRATION
PRIVACY POLICIES
OVER 60 SITES FOUND USING UNAUTHORIZED
INFORMATION
GATHERING DEVICES
WASHINGTON, DC - Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson (R-TN)
today announced preliminary results of Internet privacy reports
revealing that some federal agencies are struggling to manage
their Internet sites and data collection practices without
violating Administration privacy policies. Although fewer than a
third of the reports have been completed, Inspectors General
have already found 64 federal agency Internet sites that used
unauthorized permanent "cookies,"
information-collecting devices whose use was restricted last
summer by the Clinton Administration.
"The federal government
should be setting the standard for privacy protection in the
Information Age," Thompson said, "One of the Bush
Administration’s early priorities should be to address the
previous Administration’s failure to comply with their own
Internet privacy policy."
According to Thompson, only a
few Inspectors General were able to inspect all of their agency’s
Internet pages, but most commented on the need to create and
enforce agency-wide procedures for the maintenance of federal
Internet sites. Other violations of Administration privacy
policies that the IGs found in late 2000 and early 2001 include
the following:
- The Education IG revealed
that half of the Education Department’s Internet pages
that collect personal information lack a posted privacy
policy. Nine Internet pages were collecting e-mail addresses
without the user’s knowledge.
- The Treasury IG found that
11 of the Treasury Department’s 30 main Internet sites
were missing privacy policies. Nineteen major Internet sites
weren’t even listed on the Treasury inventory of sites.
- The General Services
Administration IG found an Internet site managed by a
private contractor on which the contractor used a persistent
cookie under an agreement that gave him ownership of all of
the data collected by the cookie.
"I want to commend the
Inspectors General from these agencies on the work that they’ve
done so far. Their efforts are helping us eliminate cookies and
bring the websites into compliance with privacy policies,"
Thompson said.
The Internet privacy reports
were required by the Treasury-Postal title of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act of 2000. Thompson worked with Congressman Jay
Inslee (D-WA) to promote this privacy provision, which requires
each agency IG to report to Congress on how the agency collects
and reviews personal information on its Internet site. Sixteen
of the IGs had completed the reports by mid-February and the
remaining reports are expected in a few months.
The legislation requiring the
IG reports followed an audit by Thompson in October of 2000
which found that 13 agencies were using the
information-gathering devices despite claiming they weren’t
doing so.
Senator Thompson said that when
Congress returns from recess he will be introducing bipartisan
legislation to establish a commission to look at government
privacy practices.
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Findings
of the Report
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