Wednesday, May 9, 2001

 
Senators Thompson and Kohl Introduce 
"Citizens' Privacy Commission Act"

WASHINGTON _ Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred 
Thompson (R-TN) and Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) today introduced the 
"Citizens' Privacy Commission Act," legislation which will establish 
an 11-member commission to examine how federal, state, and local 
governments collect and use our personal information, and to make 
recommendations to Congress on how to map out government privacy 
protections for the future. 

"In these times of rapidly changing technology, people are uncertain 
and fearful about who has access to their personal information and how 
that information is being used," Chairman Thompson said. "A recent 
poll shows that Americans perceive government as the greatest threat 
to their personal privacy, above both the media and corporations. The 
Citizens' Privacy Commission Act will address people's concerns about 
the potential misuse of their personal information by the government."

"As we consider federal privacy guidelines for the private sector, the 
government should follow the highest privacy standards and demonstrate 
not only that they are preferable, but that they work. This 
legislation would create a commission to examine how the various 
levels of government collect, use and share information about 
citizens," Senator Kohl said. "The time has come for Congress to 
enact reasonable and thoughtful privacy legislation, and this bill is 
a sensible first step in that process."

The Citizens' Privacy Commission will investigate all aspects of 
privacy in the government, such as FBI e-mail interception, IRS data 
security, agency web site privacy, as well as the current applications 
of the Privacy Act of 1974 and other laws addressing government 
privacy practices.

Last month, Senator Thompson released the preliminary findings of 
agency Inspector General reports on Internet privacy revealing that 
over sixty sites were using unauthorized information- gathering 
devices. Senator Thompson's work on protecting privacy has also 
included a series of investigations and hearings on the security of 
government computer systems; sponsoring the Government Information 
Security Act, which passed as part of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001; and sponsoring amendments to 
curb abusive information-gathering practices of the Federal 
Government. 

Cosponsors of the Thompson-Kohl bill include Senators George Voinovich 
(R-OH), Carl Levin (D-MI), Strom Thurmond (R-SC), Susan Collins 
(R-ME), and Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL). 
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