Government Accountability Office report

FROM EPIC WEBSITE

Government Report: Agencies' Privacy Protections Lacking in Data Mining Projects

A recent Government Accountability Office report (pdf) found that federal agencies are failing to adequately protect privacy rights when using data mining or knowledge discovery tools to find patterns and associations in massive amounts of information. The report said that although most agencies are notifying the public that they are using personal information, few are notifying people about the intended uses of that information. A previous government program that sifted though troves of personal information, the Total Information Awareness project, was shut down amidst privacy and security criticism. For more information, see EPIC's Total Information Awareness page.

More information at EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center )