Federal agencies fail to safeguard privacy

A newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on the use of data mining by five federal agencies found that none of the agencies complied with all rules for gathering citizen information, leaving individual privacy rights inadequately protected. The report was requested by Hawaii's Senator Daniel Akaka, who issued a news release Aug 29 :

In light of the high number of data mining activities in the federal government and the use of personal information, we must ensure that the federal government is following the laws set up to protect the privacy rights of all Americans. Having policies and safeguards in place will not work if agencies are not following the law.

The study investigated the data mining activities at the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency, and the Department of State.

Data Mining: Agencies Have Taken Key Steps to Protect Privacy in Selected Efforts, but Significant Compliance Issues Remain
(available in PDF, 1.3 MB; Abstract also available in HTML)