For Immediate Release: Thursday, January 16, 2003

Senators Seek Moratorium on Government Data-Mining

Electronic Frontier Foundation Supports Privacy Protections

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

Washington, DC - Senator Russ Feingold is introducing legislation today that would stop U.S. government data-mining activities directed at U.S. citizens pending Congressional authorization. The bill targets the controversial Total Information Awareness (TIA) program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Senator Ron Wyden introduced yesterday an amendment to an omnibus spending bill that would suspend funding for TIA pending Congressional review.

Nine organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ACLU, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Free Congress Foundation, sent a letter opposing TIA to the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

Once implemented, TIA would be used to mine data in financial, education, travel, medical, veterinary, transportation, communications, and housing records -- potentially including every banking transaction, every credit card use, every doctor visit, and every phone call, email, or Internet search.

"TIA\'s motto is \'knowledge is power.\' What would J. Edgar Hoover have done with this kind of power?" said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. "History tells us that government agencies can\'t be trusted with unregulated surveillance power. EFF applauds those members of Congress who are taking action to prevent electronic fishing expeditions into our daily lives."

Last November, Senator Feinstein called for "close oversight" of TIA, warning that "it could lead to an Orwellian America, where a person\'s every move is tracked by the Government." Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin have criticized TIA, and Senator Susan Collins has said that TIA "raises extraordinary concerns about individual privacy."

Senators Leahy, Feingold, and Maria Cantwell also requested detailed information about the Justice Department\'s data-mining activities last Friday.

DARPA documents indicate $240 million in spending on the TIA project for fiscal years 2001-2003. The TIA web page until recently featured a logo depicting an all-seeing eye above a pyramid overlooking the globe, as well as the bios of key project participants.

Admiral John Poindexter, whose five felony convictions for participation in the Iran-Contra Affair were overturned in exchange for testimony against his colleagues, heads the TIA program.

The Feingold bill would also suspend programs similar or related to TIA in certain agencies and may reach the CAPPS II air traveler profiling program run by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), now part of the Homeland Security Department.

TSA told Congress last year that CAPPS II will data-mine every air passenger\'s travel history, living arrangements, and other personal and demographic information. It was tested at the Salt Lake City Olympics and is scheduled to be implemented this year.

"TIA is extremely dangerous to civil liberties, but CAPPS II is a much more immediate threat," Tien said.

Links:

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/issues/privacy/tia/20030115_pr.php

Legislation introduced for TIA data-mining moratorium (coming soon):
http://www.eff.org/issues/privacy/tia/20030115_legislation.php

Letter from organizations opposing TIA:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/duncan-hunter-letter.php

EFF action alerts opposing TIA:
http://action.eff.org/

More information on TIA:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/

DARPA TIA website:
http://www.darpa.mil/iao/TIASystems.htm

Congressional letters on TIA:
http://www.eff.org/issues/privacy/tia/#documents

Center for Public Integrity analysis of TIA:
http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=484

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/

Contact:

Lee Tien