Head of Transportation Security Administration Talks to Business Leaders About Government Demands for Consumer Information to F

GOVERNMENT SECURITY HEAD TELLS BUSINESS AND CRITICS
AMERICANS ENTITLED TO BOTH PRIVACY AND SECURITY; CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT SCRUTINY
Special Privacy Officers Guide to Homeland Security and Audio Tapes of Conference Sessions Available

Hackensack, NJ//March 20, 2003 "Dont be too quick to strike a balance between privacy and security. As Americans, we are entitled to a full measure of both," Admiral James Loy, Head of Transportation Security Agency in the Office of Homeland Security told business leaders, privacy advocates, legal and academic experts, and the media. In a keynote address at Privacy & American Business Ninth Annual National Conference in Washington, D.C., Loy also laid out the governments case for controversial new demands on business for access to consumer transaction information, and TSAs plans to expand passenger prescreening systems (CAPPS II).

Special Privacy Officers Guide to Homeland Security

P&AB has made special conference packages available that include audio tapes of all sessions from March 12-14, as well as unique P&AB conference research publications including received P&ABs Guide to Homeland Security Information Requirements. This Guide aids in the understanding of compliance issues in new security legislation where customer trust is at stake. It examines new anti-terror laws and how they are being administered. It also summarizes the concerns of civil liberties and consumer advocates about the scope of these demands on business, and the privacy safeguards that should be put in place. Examples of how companies are complying with government investigative demands are included, as well as a discussion of government requests for real-time direct access to corporate databases versus requests for specific individual information.

Debate: National Security vs. Civil Liberties

Loy assured Conference attendees that TSA is taking the privacy issue as seriously as fighting terrorism. He asserted that CAPPS II is in compliance with existing privacy laws and that TSA is imposing conservative limits on data collection and retention. According to Loy, TSA has no intention of keeping data for years, although it has the ability to do so. After passengers arrive at their destination, TSA will purge their data.

Loy emphasized the desire for oversight. "TSA is not asking for public trust," he said. "We are asking for oversight and welcome independent scrutiny."

Civil liberties advocate Jerry Berman, President, Center for Democracy and Technology, said he is not convinced the governments effort to protect citizens privacy rights and national security will work. "TSA has yet to explain how the system will work, what databases it will access, what proof TSA has that the program will be effective, or who will be in charge of performing the assessments used to determine passengers threat potentials," Berman said.

Business Perspective

Michael de Janes, General Counsel, ChoicePoint, introduced the Admiral and chaired the session following Loys keynote address. Acxioms CPO, Jennifer Barrett, outlined seven privacy principles the government should follow in data collection: notice and reasonable disclosure; use and purpose; choice; full access to government-held information; information security; redress; and oversight. Barrett recognized that these principles are complicated and difficult to apply, particularly in government anti-terrorism efforts. "Americans should not have the right to opt-out, but it is important to understand where they do have choices," Barrett said.

Special Conference Package

Full remarks by Loy, Berman, Barrett, and de Janes, and Q&A period are available on audio tape singly or in a special Conference package which includes audio tapes of all sessions from March 12-14 and seven unique P&AB Conference publications, including: P&ABs Consumer Privacy Litigation Annual Report, Annual Consumer Privacy Survey Report and Analysis, Round Up of Media Coverage on Privacy, the Annual States Round Up and Analysis, Guide to P&ABs Privacy Policy Database, and the Executive Guide to P&ABs Conference & Workshop. Contact Olga Garey at (201) 996-1154 or info@pandab.org for more information.

About Privacy & American Business

Privacy & American Business, (pandab.org, www.PrivacyExchange.org, www.pjobs.org), is an activity of the Center for Social & Legal Research, a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy think tank exploring U.S. and global issues of consumer and employee privacy and data protection since its launch in 1993.

Always on the cutting edge, P&AB was the first to chart and analyze for business the rise of privacy from a second-tier concern to a front-burner issue and to provide opportunities in programs and meetings to assist businesses in understanding the privacy environment as it is evolving. P&AB, a pioneer in recognizing the rise of the corporate privacy officer (CPO), was the first to open its CPO Program in 1999.

The Center and all its activities are led by Dr. Alan Westin, President and Publisher of P&AB; Robert Belair, Partner at Oldaker, Biden & Belair and P&ABs Vice President; and Lorrie Sherwood, P&ABs Executive Director.

Press Contact: Irene Oujo, P&AB at (201) 996-1154 or ioujo@pandab.org.