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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2004 GAO Issues New Report on SEVIS DoD Seeks Exemption from Privacy Act Efforts Fail to Block Accenture Deal GAO ISSUES NEW REPORT ON SEVIS The General Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a new report on the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), noting several improvements but highlighting a number of outstanding problems. SEVIS is the federal government's technology system to track foreign students, in an effort to limit fraudulent entry into the United States on student visas. According to the GAO's latest report, general levels of service for the system are improved, and several errors in the system have been fixed. The report faults the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), however, for failing to maintain adequate monitoring procedures. "Without formally monitoring and documenting key system performance requirements, DHS cannot adequately assure itself that potential system problems are identified and addressed early," according to the report. DHS officials accepted many of the findings in the report but denied their monitoring is deficient; they are resubmitting certain data to the GAO to be reassessed. Federal Computer Week, 18 June 2004 http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0614/web-sevis-06-18-04.asp DOD SEEKS EXEMPTION FROM PRIVACY ACT The Senate version of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2005 includes a provision that would exempt the Department of Defense (DoD) from a part of the Privacy Act, allowing the agency to conduct secret investigations of U.S. citizens and green-card holders. The provision was not included in the House of Representatives version of the bill. Currently only the CIA, which is not allowed to operate within the United States, and law enforcement have similar exemptions. Officials from the Pentagon said the exemption is necessary to fight terrorism and would not affect U.S. citizens. Civil liberties groups disagreed, saying the DoD should not be involved in such investigations, which fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI. Timothy Edgar of the American Civil Liberties Union said, "This would allow military intelligence officers to undertake what amounts to undercover spying on Americans." Edgar noted that in February, investigators from the Army sought access about attendees of a University of Texas conference about Muslim women. The incident led to an apology by the Army. David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center agreed with Edgar, saying the exemption is "about the [Defense Intelligence Agency] playing an undercover intelligence role in the U.S." Wired News, 19 June 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,63917,00.html EFFORTS FAIL TO BLOCK ACCENTURE DEAL Despite efforts from a group of largely Democratic members of Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives has given final approval to a contract between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Accenture. Under the contract, which could be worth as much as $10 billion, Accenture will lead efforts to develop security systems to screen and monitor visitors to the United States. Part of the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, the Accenture system will capture electronic fingerprints and photos of foreign nationals as they enter and leave the country and will include a database to house the information collected. Democratic Congressmen had objected to awarding the contract to a company based outside the United States and had introduced an amendment that would have stripped Accenture of the contract. The amendment was defeated, though the House of Representatives separately approved a regulation that prevents the awarding of all future DHS contracts to non-U.S. companies. Internet News, 21 June 2004 http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3370781 ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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