Privacy Groups Score Obama Team
Privacy watchdogs on Wednesday gave the Obama administration an "incomplete" for consumer privacy; an "A" for medical privacy; a "C+" for civil liberties; and a "B" for cybersecurity. The scores from the Electronic Privacy Information Center and a coalition of consumer, educational, library, labor and technology stakeholders were unveiled at a National Press Club event that organizers hoped would act as an "early warning system" for the administration.
The rankings follow a December push by the Center and the Privacy Coalition for then-President-elect Obama to tackle identity theft, security breaches and the commercialization of personal data. The letter lauded Obama's early commitments to strengthen the FTC, to protect sensitive information and make sure homeland security databases are used in limited ways. A similar evaluation is expected soon from the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The administration has made progress in some areas, but it is clear that there is more to do to address the public concerns about privacy," EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg said in a press release. EPIC Associate Director Lillie Coney said the Obama team can improve its grades by appointing "pro-privacy" commissioners to the FTC; making the work of the Homeland Security Department more transparent; requiring federal agencies to comply with the Privacy Act; and extending the Privacy Act to social networking services.
Read Wednesday's CongressDaily AM Edition for more on the topic (subscription required) and click here for EPIC's full report card.
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