http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm The Association of Young Americans Policy Issue of the day. en-us Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:56:22 -0400 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:57:00 -0400 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss young_americans@hotmail.com young_americans@hotmail.com http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/7/31/New-Intellegence-Rules In a new executive order, disclosed today, President Bush revised and reordered some of the relationships between the various intellegence agencies. The New York Times reports that "The new order gives the national intelligence director, a position created in 2005, new authority over any intelligence information collected that pertains to more than one agency -- an attempt to force greater information exchange among agencies traditionally reluctant to share their most prized intelligence. The order directs the attorney general to develop guidelines to allow agencies access to information held by other agencies. That could potentially include the sharing of sensitive information about Americans."The revised order is not yet on the White House website, but you can check back on the section of website with executive orders. Share your thoughts and questions about intellegence gathering, privacy and security in our Open Forum. Foreign policy Privacy Terrorism Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:57:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/7/31/New-Intellegence-Rules http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/4/29/Healthcare-Reform-and-Privacy Healthcare is one of the top issue on people's minds this election season, according to most polls. The candidates have discussed various ideas and plans, including improved efficiency with electronic records. Privacy concerns have been raised about moving to a system of electronic medical records. Noting recent breaches of patient records at various hospitals, a Wall Street Journal article notes "The steady stream of privacy breaches threatens to undermine the health-care industry's effort to adopt electronic medical records. That push is meant to make medical care both safer and more convenient for patients, but a major barrier to health-care digitization has been anxiety about preserving the security of such sensitive data." What do you think of creating a system of electronic medical records to make it easier for you and your doctors to access your records? What positives and negatives do you see in such a system? Learn more about privacy in our Issue Paper and share your thoughts in the Privacy Forum. Healthcare Privacy Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:22:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/4/29/Healthcare-Reform-and-Privacy http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/4/17/Privacy-of-Medical-Records In discussions about reforming the Healthcare system in the US, some have discussed making patient records electronic to allow, for example, easier access for physicians to review medical history and more quickly diagnose a patient. The precise manner of creating a system of electronic medical records raises, for some, issue of patient privacy. An article from the New England Journal of Medicine states "As part of a push toward greater individual control of health information, Microsoft and Google have recently begun offering Web-based personal health records. The journal article's authors describe a new "personalized, health information economy" in which consumers tell physicians, hospitals and other providers what information to send into their personal records, stored by Microsoft or Google. It is the individual who decides with whom to share that information and under what terms. But Microsoft and Google, the authors note, are not bound by the privacy restrictions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or Hipaa, the main law that regulates personal data handling and patient privacy. Hipaa, enacted in 1996, did not anticipate Web-based health records systems like the ones Microsoft and Google now offer," reports the New York Times. The Association of Young Americans Issue paper on Privacy notes that "[t]he regulatory regime for protecting privacy of health information is complex and fragmented. Some protections apply only to information held by government agencies. Some protections apply to specific groups, such as federal employees or school children. Some protections apply to specific medical conditions or types of information, such as information related to HIV/AIDS or substance abuse treatment." What do you think about the idea of online electronic medical records? What do you see as some advantages and disadvantages? SHare your thoughts in the Privacy Forum. Healthcare Privacy Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:11:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/4/17/Privacy-of-Medical-Records http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/3/10/Domestic-Spying A fascinating, and insightful, article in today's Wall Street Journal discusses the scope and nature of domestic spying being done over the last 6+ years by the the National Security Agency. "The central role the NSA has come to occupy in domestic intelligence gathering has never been publicly disclosed. But an inquiry reveals that its efforts have evolved to reach more broadly into data about people's communications, travel and finances in the U.S. than the domestic surveillance programs brought to light since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Congress now is hotly debating domestic spying powers under the main law governing U.S. surveillance aimed at foreign threats [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]." The article goes on to note "According to current and former intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records of domestic emails and Internet searches as well as bank transfers, credit-card transactions, travel and telephone records. The NSA receives this so-called 'transactional' data from other agencies or private companies, and its sophisticated software programs analyze the various transactions for suspicious patterns. Then they spit out leads to be explored by counterterrorism programs across the U.S. government, such as the NSA's own Terrorist Surveillance Program, formed to intercept phone calls and emails between the U.S. and overseas without a judge's approval when a link to al Qaeda is suspected."You can lern more about domestic spying by readingthe whole article at the link above, and by reading our Privacy Issue paper. What are your thoughts on what level of data collection and domestic surveillance is permissible? Share your ideas, concerns and questions in our Privacy Forum. Privacy Terrorism Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:49:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/3/10/Domestic-Spying http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/11/14/NSA-Inquiry-Permitted President Bush has approved security clearances for Justice Deptartment Officials to continue their investigation of the NSA warrantless wiretapping program, changing his prior position. "[T]he head of the Office of Professional Responsibility, H. Marshall Jarrett, said in February 2006 that he had opened an investigation of the conduct of department lawyers in approving and overseeing the N.S.A. program. But three months later he said the inquiry had been dropped because his staff had been denied the necessary high-level clearances. The Justice Department later said that Alberto R. Gonzales, the attorney general at the time, had recommended that the clearances be granted but that Mr. Bush declined to approve them," reports the New York Times. "Under the program, which began after the Sept. 11 attacks and ended in January, the National Security Agency intercepted without court warrants the international phone calls and e-mail messages of Americans and others in the United States suspected of ties to Al Qaeda." Learn more about this wiretapping program on our website here. Share your thoughts on balancing security threats to our country and privacy rights in our Privacy Forum. Privacy Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:04:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/11/14/NSA-Inquiry-Permitted http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/9/22/Making-Protect-America-Law-Permanent Congress is debating a bill that would make changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Permanent. Presently, the Protect America Act is set to expire on 2/1/08. "On Thursday, J. Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, testified before Congress that not only was the law a necessity, but that public debate about it will cost American lives by exposing American surveillance methods to the nation's enemies. Opponents in Congress were critical of Mr. McConnell's remarks," reports the Christian Science Monitor. "The temporary act was rushed into law last month and allows US intelligence agencies to monitor phone conversations between US citizens calling suspected terrorists overseas." Do you think that public debate about legality and constitutionality is dangerous, as Director McConnell indicates? Do you think that the government should be required to obtain a warrant prior to wiretapping an American citizen? Share your thoughts and concerns in the Privacy Forum. Privacy Sat, 22 Sep 2007 09:04:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/9/22/Making-Protect-America-Law-Permanent http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/8/12/Candid-Cameras Over the last few years the number of surveillance cameras being used in public areas has greatly expanded. The Department of Homeland Security "has doled out millions on surveillance cameras, transforming city streets and parks into places under constant observation. The department will not say how much of its taxpayer-funded grants have gone to cameras. But a Globe search of local newspapers and congressional press releases shows that a large number of new surveillance systems, costing at least tens and probably hundreds of millions of dollars, are being simultaneously installed around the country as part of homeland security grants," reports the Boston Globe. "But privacy rights advocates say that the technology is putting at risk something that is hard to define but is core to personal autonomy. The proliferation of cameras could mean that Americans will feel less free because legal public behavior -- attending a political rally, entering a doctor's office, or even joking with friends in a park -- will leave a permanent record, retrievable by authorities at any time." What do you think of this proliferation of video cameras in public areas? Learn more about surveillance and privacy rights here on our website. Share your thoughts in the Privacy Forum. Privacy Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:41:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/8/12/Candid-Cameras http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/8/6/Wiretapping-Law After much debate and back and forth over the lastfew years about the legality of the NSA surveillance program, President Bush signed a law this weekend which legalized the monitoring of international e-mails and phonecalls. "Congressional aides and others familiar with the details of the law said that its impact went far beyond the small fixes that administration officials had said were needed to gather information about foreign terrorists. They said seemingly subtle changes in legislative language would sharply alter the legal limits on the government's ability to monitor millions of phone calls and e-mail messages going in and out of the United States," reports the New York Times. "The new law, which is intended as a stopgap and expires in six months, also represents a power shift in terms of the oversight and regulation of government surveillance. The new law gives the attorney general and the director of national intelligence the power to approve the international surveillance, rather than the special intelligence court. The court's only role will be to review and approve the procedures used by the government in the surveillance after it has been conducted. It will not scrutinize the cases of the individuals being monitored. The law also gave the administration greater power to force telecommunications companies to cooperate with such spying operations." Learn more about the NSA program on our website. Share your thoughts and concerns in our Privacy Forum. Privacy Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:28:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/8/6/Wiretapping-Law http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/7/9/Surveillance-Plan-for-NYC New York City is planning to install thousands of cameras in Manhattan over the next few years. "The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, as the plan is called, will resemble London's so-called Ring of Steel, an extensive web of cameras and roadblocks designed to detect, track and deter terrorists. British officials said images captured by the cameras helped track suspects after the London subway bombings in 2005 and the car bomb plots last month. If the program is fully financed, it will include not only license plate readers but also 3,000 public and private security cameras below Canal Street, as well as a center staffed by the police and private security officers, and movable roadblocks." reports the New York Times. The New York Civil Liberties Union has expressed concerns about the plan. "Already, according to a report last year by the civil liberties group, there are nearly 4,200 public and private surveillance cameras below 14th Street, a fivefold increase since 1998, with virtually no oversight over what becomes of the recordings." Do you think that widespread surveillance is an effective deterrant for crime or terrorist attacks? Do you have concerns about recording and storing of such surveillance or do you think such concerns are overstated. Learn more in our Privacy Issue Paper and be heard in our Privacy Forum. Privacy Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:56:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/7/9/Surveillance-Plan-for-NYC http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/6/27/Even-with-release-of-documents-CIA-doesnt-tell-all The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the CIA released 693 pages of documents about spying on Americans, opening citizens' mail and plotting to kill foreign leaders, but vast sections were blocked out by agency censors. But as censored by the CIA, many of the most sensational events were mentioned in little more than one sketchy paragraph apiece. The new documents devoted two paragraphs to the programs that opened mail between U.S. citizens, the USSR and China. One paragraph said "Project Westpointer," from fall 1969 through October 1971, was based in the San Francisco area and the "target was mail to the United States from Mainland China." The question remains then, how much should our government keep secret from us? How much privacy are we, as citizen entitled to have? Are the same activities going on today that the CIA employed in the 1950s, 60s and 70s? Discuss your views on this issue in the Privacy Forum. Civil Rights Privacy Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:24:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/6/27/Even-with-release-of-documents-CIA-doesnt-tell-all http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/6/24/How-far-does-Privacy-extend-in-the-White-House The White House has exapnded its argument that the President and Vice President are exempt from a Presidential Executive order that requires all government agencies that are part of the executive branch to submit to oversight on their handling of classified national security information. Are the people entitled to this information? Can a President exempt himself to his own executive order which on the face of it seems to cover his office? The question of privacy extends even to the Office of the President and has ramifications into the amount of secrecy and privacy we as a nation will tolerate in our government. Ulike our own privacy, is it more important for our government to be open and transparent or should privacy/secrecy be allowed to a greater degree? Voice your opinion in the Privacy forum. Privacy Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:53:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/6/24/How-far-does-Privacy-extend-in-the-White-House http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/5/2/New-proposed-Rules-for-Domestic-Spying Justice Department officials appeared before congress yesterday to discuss new wiretapping proposals. "Senate Intelligence Committee members said the Bush administration must provide more information about its earlier domestic spying before it can hope to gain additional powers for the future," reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. "For two hours, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, National Security Agency Director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein and their lawyers tried to parry increasingly dubious and hostile questions. They deferred many answers to a committee session closed to the public. With little apparent success, they portrayed the administration bill as merely an adjustment to technological changes wrought by cell phones, e-mail and the Internet since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was enacted in the 1970s. Under current rules, McConnell said, 'We're actually missing a significant portion of what we should be getting.' But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., responded, 'We look through the lens of the past to judge how much we can trust you.' Like other senators, he said that trust was undermined by recent disclosure that the FBI had abused so-called National Security Letters to obtain information about Americans." Learn more about Privacy here. Share your thoughts on the apprropriateness of domestic spying under various circumstances in our Privacy forum. Privacy Wed, 02 May 2007 18:34:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/5/2/New-proposed-Rules-for-Domestic-Spying http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/3/10/FBI-Improperly-Used-Patriot-Act A Justice Department report found abuses by the FBI in its use of Patriot Act authority. "The report found many instances when national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain records from telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit companies and other businesses without a judge's approval, were improperly, and sometimes illegally, used. Moreover, record keeping was so slipshod, the report found, that the actual number of national security letters exercised was often understated when the bureau reported on them to Congress, as required," reports the New York Times. "The inspector general also criticized the bureau for using what are called exigent letters in improper circumstances. An exigent letter is meant to be used to obtain information in an extreme emergency like a kidnapping when the bureau has already sought subpoenas for the information. In too many instances, such letters were used in nonemergencies when the bureau had not requested subpoenas, Mr. Fine wrote." Learn more about the Patriot Act and privacy issues here. Share your views on government monitoring and inquiries of citizens in our Privacy forum. Privacy Sat, 10 Mar 2007 10:17:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/3/10/FBI-Improperly-Used-Patriot-Act http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/2/16/NYC-Police-Video-Surveillance In the last few years there has been an increased use of video surveillance by law enforcement, with some protest by individuals and groups citing privacy and first amendment rights issues. In the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, "a federal judge ruled yesterday that the police must stop the routine videotaping of people at public gatherings unless there is an indication that unlawful activity may occur," reports the New York Times. "The restrictions on videotaping do not apply to bridges, tunnels, airports, subways or street traffic, Judge Haight noted, but are meant to control police surveillance at events where people gather to exercise their rights under the First Amendment." What do you think of the Judge's ruling? Learn more about privacy here and share your views in the Privacy Forum. Privacy Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:35:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/2/16/NYC-Police-Video-Surveillance http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/2/1/NSA-Surveillance-Info-being-provided-to-Congress Following years of almost complete secrecy, the Justice Dept has agreed to turn over documents regarding the NSA eavesdropping program, in response to threat of Congressional subpoena. The New York Times reports that "The decision on the documents, which Mr. Gonzales confirmed Wednesday, will let members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, as well as a few Congressional leaders, review those court orders to determine whether the administration had significantly changed the program by putting it under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. A central question is whether the court will approve requests case by case or issue broad orders giving the government wide leeway to choose targets." Learn more about the NSA surveillance program in our Privacy paper. Share your thought in the Privacy Forum. Privacy Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:25:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/2/1/NSA-Surveillance-Info-being-provided-to-Congress