The public has the right to know about information collected, disseminated and maintained by the government in order to increase accountability and public awareness. CDT believes that the Internet is an ideal medium for gaining greater public access to government information.
CDT: Technology Can Provide Needed Transparency for Government Programs - CDT told a congressional panel today that providing the public with direct, online access to complex government programs, such as TARP, would strengthen oversight. Media, watchdog groups, researchers and citizens could then better analyze the data for a wide variety of purposes. CDT asked the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee to ensure that legislation explicitly require that TARP resources be made available to the public on the Web. CDT also noted that more sophisticated data--such as location and mapping data--are being collected today by government agencies; however, aging federal privacy law needs to be updated to ensure these new types of information are protected as well. September 17, 2009
Share this articleCDT Comments on Federal Web Policy Proposal - CDT and EFF today submitted joint comments to the Office of Management and Budget in response to the agency's proposed review of the policies governing the use of cookies and other web technologies. OMB's suggested framework begins to address some of the deficiencies regarding current federal policy; however, the final version of the policy must include more granular and comprehensive privacy protections, CDT and EFF said in joint comments. Agency Web sites play a key role in fostering a more participatory government, but with changes in technology and policy special attention should be given to privacy issues. Many of the ideas and recommendations contained in the comments are based on a recently released CDT-EFF report about the use of analytics on government web sites. August 10, 2009
Share this articleReport examines Privacy Implications of Data.Gov - CDT today released a Policy Post discussing privacy implications for the federal data clearinghouse known as data.gov and de-identification considerations for the Open Government Directive. While this initiative signifies a step in the right direction towards a more open and transparent federal government, it must be done in concert with protecting the privacy of individuals. The Policy Post recommends specialized review procedures for each data set on data.gov. In addition, it says that different levels of data protections should be implemented in different contexts and that de-identification guidelines should be adaptable over time. This is essential in addressing consumer privacy risks associated with handling large data sets, as is the case with data.gov. July 13, 2009
Share this article
Slashdot
del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Google
Yahoo!
Windows Live
reddit