ACLU Report Calls for Stronger U.S. Privacy Oversight

The American Civil Liberties Union today released a new report recommending steps Congress should take to create the vigorous privacy oversight institutions that are desperately needed in the United States to counterbalance the rush of new technologies and expanding government powers, and called for the Obama administration to move quickly to fill the seats on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).

The ACLU report, Enforcing Privacy, is a blueprint for the creation of an American equivalent to something nearly every industrialized nation other than the United States has: a privacy commissioner charged with protecting citizens' privacy from the government and private sector. Based on interviews with a wide range of experts on government and privacy, including privacy officers in other countries, it makes two primary recommendations to Congress. First, the report recommends building on the existing – but never filled – PCLOB by expanding its scope and powers to turn it into a full-fledged public-sector privacy oversight body. Second, the ACLU calls for an augmentation of the powers of the Federal Trade Commission to make it a full-fledged private-sector privacy regulator.

"The Obama administration has a lot on its plate, but protecting Americans' privacy should not be put on the back burner," said Jay Stanley of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program. "It has been over nine months now and it is time to fill the PCLOB. With every passing day, new technologies and expanded government powers increasingly leave Americans' privacy at risk; checks and balances are an urgent priority."

You can read the full report here.

Chris Conley is the Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow with the ACLU of Northern California.