Critics Question Impartiality of Panel Studying Privacy Rights http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A25345-2005Mar10?language=printer
By Jonathan Krim Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 11, 2005; Page E01 Even before recent security breaches exposed private data about millions of consumers, the Department of Homeland Security was assembling a public board to recommend how to best safeguard privacy, as the agency makes use of growing stores of information collected about U.S. citizens. But the 20-member panel has angered security and privacy-rights advocates who charge that it is tilted toward the industries that profit most from gathering, using and selling personal information, often to the government. Two of the members work for database-marketing companies, while two others work for think tanks that receive funding from the industry. Other members represent the insurance, airline-reservation, technology-research and database-software industries. At least two members are from companies with Homeland Security contracts. Nuala O'Connor Kelly, chief privacy officer at the department and organizer of the board, defended the composition, saying the agency wanted to bring top industry, academic and consumer-oriented expertise to the task. But others worried about the balance of views. "The slant [of the board] wasn't, from the get-go, to have a really, really strong privacy focus," said Lee Tien, a senior counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy-rights group. Tien said his group did not apply for board representation because the agency recommended that members submit to security clearance checks, which he viewed as antithetical to the mission of a board that is focused on privacy. Perhaps the most controversial appointment is D. Reed Freeman Jr., a Washington lawyer who is chief privacy officer of Claria Corp. Previously known as the Gator Corp., the California company was notorious for its software system for tracking online user behavior and displaying pop-up advertising on Web sites, which sparked lawsuits by media and other companies, including The Washington Post. The firm settled the suits, changed its name and no longer serves pop-up ads without the permission of Web site operators. But Claria remains a lightning rod for suspicion in privacy circles for its ability to gather information about the Internet-surfing and buying habits of users who receive its software, although the data collected does not identify individual users. Claria's software comes bundled with other applications, such as the Kazaa file-sharing program. Another board member, Samuel Wright, is the chief lobbyist for Cendant Corp., a consumer-services conglomerate that owns marketing firms, Avis and Budget rental car companies, hotels such as Days Inn and Ramada and real estate brokerages Century 21 and Sotheby's International Realty. One Cendant subsidiary, airline-reservation system Galileo International Inc., joined several airlines in providing the Transportation Security Administration with customer data for testing passenger-screening programs. Also represented is International Business Machines Corp., which recently purchased SRD, a private firm whose software specializes in looking across multiple databases to verify identity. IBM also has a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to help test its Secure Flight passenger-screening system. "We have the best representation possible given the applicant pool," Kelly said. Her office received 139 applications, which she pared down and submitted for final approval by the department's former secretary Tom Ridge. "These people bring a variety of different viewpoints," she said. "This is not just the usual suspects, and that is as it should be. Homeland security should not just be about Washington policy thinkers." The board's first meeting will be next month, at which it will begin to identify which projects it wants to take on. Kelly said the panel also includes privacy-rights advocates and cited as an example the presence of Tara Lemmey, a former head of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Lance J. Hoffman, a computer science professor at George Washington University. Also on the board are James W. Harper of the Cato Institute, who, according to his Web site, focuses on privacy "from a free-market, pro-technology perspective," and Joanne McNabb, who heads the Office of Privacy Protection for the state of California. Many of the corporate members of the board are responsible for their companies' privacy initiatives. "Who better to educate DHS than people in industry" who confront privacy issues regularly, Kelly asked. As for the potential conflicts of interest that might arise with board members whose companies do business with the agency, Kelly said the members are representing themselves, not their companies. Privacy and security advocates said there should be a strong public voice to balance those in the information business. They noted that database brokers and other companies have extensive records on virtually every adult in the United States, and those records are regularly bought and sold with little oversight. Moreover, the government is increasingly turning to the private sector for such information to help strengthen national security. "I don't get it," said Bruce Schneier, who writes books on security and is founder and chief technical officer of Counterpane Internet Security Inc., a computer-security company. Compared with a similar advisory group he is on for the Secure Flight program, "this just looks like a bunch of corporate flaks," he said. Schneier said the privacy board reminds him of a Food and Drug Administration panel that recently recommended restoring certain drugs to the marketplace after concerns were raised about their safety. Some members of the FDA board have financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Ari Schwartz, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital-rights advocacy group, said the board lacked privacy advocates who are focused on the commercial sector's use of personal information, as opposed to that of the government. Schwartz said the center's executive director applied to be on the board but was rejected. Freeman of Claria, who was hired to help that company change some of its practices, said criticism of his participation on the board has been disappointing. "You can imagine my frustration," he said. "I can't imagine a circumstance where an issue that would be before our committee would create a conflict as it relates to my private employment." If one did arise, he said, he would either recuse himself from that issue or resign from the board. You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
