Congressional Record: July 31, 2003 (Senate)
Page S10621-S10687
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
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By Mr. FEINGOLD:
S. 1544. A bill to provide for data-mining reports to Congress; to
the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am pleased today to offer the Data-
Mining Reporting Act of 2003. The untested and controversial
intelligence procedure known as data-mining is capable of maintaining
extensive files containing both public and private records on each and
every American. Almost weekly, we learn about a new data-mining program
under development like the newly named Terrorism Information Awareness
program. Congress should not be learning the details about these
programs after millions of dollars are spent testing and using data-
mining against unsuspecting Americans.
Coupled with the expanded domestic surveillance already undertaken by
this Administration, the unchecked development of data-mining is a
dangerous step that threatens one of the most important values that we
are fighting for in the war against terrorism--freedom. My bill would
require all Federal agencies to report to Congress within 90 days and
every year thereafter on data-mining programs used to find a pattern
indicating terrorist or other criminal activity and how these programs
implicate the civil liberties and privacy of all Americans. If it was
necessary, information in the various reports would even be classified.
The bill does not end funding for any program, determine the rules
for use of the technology or threaten any on-going investigation that
uses data-mining technology. But, with complete information about the
current data-mining plans and practices of the Federal Government,
Congress will be able to conduct a thorough review of the costs and
benefits of the practice of data-mining on a program by program basis
and make considered judgments about which programs should go forward
and which should not.
My bill would provide Congress with information about the nature of
the technology and the data that will be used. The Data-Mining
Reporting Act would require all government agencies to assess the
efficacy of the data-mining technology and whether the technology can
deliver on the promises of each program. In addition, my bill would
make sure that the federal agencies using data-mining technology have
considered and developed policies to protect the privacy and due
process rights of individuals and ensure that only accurate information
is collected and used.
Without Congressional review and oversight, government agencies like
the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the
Department of Defense will be able to collect and analyze a combination
of intelligence data and personal information like individuals' traffic
violations, credit card purchases, travel records, medical records,
communications records, and virtually any information contained in
commercial or public databases. Through comprehensive data-mining,
everything from people's video rentals or drugstore purchases made with
a credit card to their most private health records could be fed into a
computer and monitored and reviewed by the Federal Government.
Using massive data mining, the government hopes to be able to detect
potential terrorists. There is no evidence, however, that data-mining
will, in fact, prevent terrorism. Data-mining programs under
development are being used to look into the future before being tested
to determine if they would have even been able to anticipate past
events, like September 11 or the Oklahoma City bombing. Before we
develop the ability to feed personal information about every man, woman
and child into a giant computer, we should learn what data-mining can
and can't do and what limits and protections are needed.
One must also consider the potential for errors in data-mining for
example, credit agencies that have data about John R. Smith on John D.
Smith's credit report make the prospect of ensnaring many innocents is
real.
Most Americans believe that their private lives should remain
private. Data-mining programs run the risk of intruding into the lives
of individuals who have nothing to do with terrorism but who trust that
their credit reports, shopping habits and doctor visits would not
become a part of a gigantic computerized search engine, operating
without any controls or oversight.
The Administration should be required to report to Congress about the
impact of the various data-mining programs now underway or being
studied, and the impact those programs may have on our privacy and
civil liberties so that Congress can determine whether the proposed
benefits of this practice come at too high a price to our privacy and
personal liberties.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill. All it asks for is
information to which Congress and the American people are entitled.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
S. 1544
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Data-Mining Reporting Act of
2003".
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Data-mining.--The term "data-mining" means a query or
search or other analysis of 1 or more electronic databases,
where--
(A) at least 1 of the databases was obtained from or
remains under the control of a non-Federal entity, or the
information was acquired initially by another department or
agency of the Federal Government for purposes other than
intelligence or law enforcement;
(B) the search does not use a specific individual's
personal identifiers to acquire information concerning that
individual; and
(C) a department or agency of the Federal Government is
conducting the query or search or other analysis to find a
pattern indicating terrorist or other criminal activity.
(2) Database.--The term "database" does not include
telephone directories, information publicly available via the
Internet or available by any other means to any member
[[Page S10673]]
of the public without payment of a fee, or databases of
judicial and administrative opinions.
SEC. 3. REPORTS ON DATA-MINING ACTIVITIES.
(a) Requirement for Report.--The head of each department or
agency of the Federal Government that is engaged in any
activity to use or develop data-mining technology shall each
submit a public report to Congress on all such activities of
the department or agency under the jurisdiction of that
official.
(b) Content of Report.--A report submitted under subsection
(a) shall include, for each activity to use or develop data-
mining technology that is required to be covered by the
report, the following information:
(1) A thorough description of the data-mining technology
and the data that will be used.
(2) A thorough discussion of the plans for the use of such
technology and the target dates for the deployment of the
data-mining technology.
(3) An assessment of the likely efficacy of the data-mining
technology in providing accurate and valuable information
consistent with the stated plans for the use of the
technology.
(4) An assessment of the likely impact of the
implementation of the data-mining technology on privacy and
civil liberties.
(5) A list and analysis of the laws and regulations that
govern the information to be collected, reviewed, gathered,
and analyzed with the data-mining technology and a
description of any modifications of such laws that will be
required to use the information in the manner proposed under
such program.
(6) A thorough discussion of the policies, procedures, and
guidelines that are to be developed and applied in the use of
such technology for data-mining in order to--
(A) protect the privacy and due process rights of
individuals; and
(B) ensure that only accurate information is collected and
used.
(7) A thorough discussion of the procedures allowing
individuals whose personal information will be used in the
data-mining technology to be informed of the use of their
personal information and what procedures are in place to
allow for individuals to opt out of the technology. If no
such procedures are in place, a thorough explanation as to
why not.
(8) Any necessary classified information in an annex that
shall be available to the Committee on Governmental Affairs,
the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland
Security, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
(c) Time for Report.--Each report required under subsection
(a) shall be--
(1) submitted not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act; and
(2) updated once a year and include any new data-mining
technologies.
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