How the government uses and protects personal information collected from Americans on the Internet is of concern to all. How it actually does so is hard to tell, concluded a private study of the online activity of 70 federal agencies. The study was released by OMB Watch, a group that focuses on the work of the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is in the process of developing guidelines for government use of the Internet.
The OMB Watch survey found that 31 federal agencies collect personal identifying information when online visitors voluntarily respond to surveys, register in online guest books, or just request information. Names, addresses and Social Security numbers are often asked for, but only 11 agencies post detailed notices about exactly how the information is used including whether it is ever shared. Among the 20 agencies that do not make things clear are Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development, according to OMB Watch. The group also noted that of the thirteen agencies that compile online records detailed enough to actually be protected by law, four fail to tell people their rights.
The Privacy Act of 1974 guarantees individuals access to their own government records and requires federal agencies to get permission for any use of them other than the purpose for which they were originally compiled. Financial, educational, medical and employment histories are examples of protected records. OMB Watch said the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides Privacy Act notification on some but not all of its Internet data collection forms, which include applications for training and employment. Other agencies that do not give clear notice of privacy laws that may be applicable to information they collect online are the Peace Corps, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Technology Transfer Center, according to the survey findings.
Citizens must insist that the government protect the private information they provide when requesting services from the government or complying with the government need for information. For the government to do as it pleases with this information is criminal.
About the Author
Marc M. Harris is the President of
The Harris Organisation, a financial planning and investment management firm
with a staff of 150 people in Panama. Reprinted from
The Marc M Harris Analysis, a publication of
The Harris Organisation. The Libertarian Library has reprinted this article with the permission of
The Marc M Harris Analysis.
Copyright © 1997 by Marc M. Harris
