Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

White House Seeks Stronger Privacy Laws for Data

By atesmeh | May 2, 2014

Share

Washington (AP) — The White House is asking Congress to pass new privacy laws that would add more safeguards for Americans’ data and provide more protections for emails sought in the course of a law enforcement investigation.

The recommendations are among six offered by President Barack Obama’s counselor John Podesta in a report released Thursday. While large sets of data make Americans’ lives easier and can help save lives, the report noted, they also could be used to discriminate against Americans in areas such as housing and employment.

“Big data” is everywhere. It allows mapping apps to ping cellphones anonymously and determine, in real time, what roads are the most congested. It enables intelligence agencies to amass large amounts of emails and phone records to help root out terrorists. And it could be used to target economically vulnerable people.

At Obama’s request, Podesta and the president’s top economic and science advisers conducted a 90-day review of how the government and private sector use large sets of data. While the recommendations are not binding, they do track with many of the president’s previous calls for addressing privacy issues.

Obama has called for changes to some of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs that amass large amounts of data belonging to Americans and foreigners. The technology that enabled the surveillance programs also enables other programs used by the government and the private sector, such as data on financial records, health care systems and social media. The White House separately has reviewed the NSA programs and proposed changes to rein in the massive collection of Americans’ phone records and emails.

“The president, of course, recognized that big-data technologies had to be having an impact elsewhere in government — in the economy and in society,” Podesta said Thursday.

The report’s recommendations include passing more privacy laws, doing more to protect student and consumer data, ensuring data is not used for discriminatory purposes and giving non-U.S. citizens more privacy protections. They address the many angles of criticism levied at the Obama administration following the disclosures of former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden.

Strengthening privacy for emails could provide more protections in the course of a law enforcement investigation. Under the current law, in many cases the government can access emails without getting a warrant from a judge. Many consider that 1986 law to be outdated, and the recommendation represents the first clear message from the Obama administration that it supports updating the electronic communications law.

“We have artificial differences and archaic distinctions between email that’s left unread or periods of time that need to be rectified,” Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said.

As technology advanced, Americans’ physical property received more protections than electronic property. Privacy advocates have long called for emails to be treated the same as physical mail. If law enforcement wants access to someone’s physical mail, a warrant based on probable cause must be issued by a judge. However, if law enforcement wants access to emails, in many cases they can be obtained without a judge’s sign-off.

“By recognizing that online and offline communications should be treated the same, the report lays the groundwork for keeping everyone’s emails, texts and photos private and secure,” said Chris Calabrese, legislative council for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Even after the Snowden revelations, there’s little indication that the climate for taking up privacy legislation has shifted on Capitol Hill in an election year.

Similarly, laws that protect against discrimination have not kept up with the technological advancements either. Civil rights leaders have raised concerns about the potential for employers who use data to map where job applicants live will then rate them based on the time it would take to get to work, particularly in low-paying service jobs.

One company that describes itself as a leader in “big data workforce optimization,” discussed the commute scenario in a 2013 report. “The distance that employees live from work affects how long they choose to stay at a job,” according to a 2013 workforce performance report by Evolv, a San Francisco-based company. “Unsurprisingly, employees that live 0-5 miles from their place of work have the longest median tenure.”

Civil rights advocates say that as more jobs move out of cities and into the suburbs, a hiring system based on class could evolve.

The White House is also renewing its call for national data-breach legislation, which could have more resonance after hackers lifted personal data from millions of shoppers at Target and Nieman Marcus in recent months. The legislation would cull the patchwork of state laws into a single federal requirement for how data breaches should be reported to consumers and law enforcement.

___

On Twitter, follow Eileen Sullivan at https://twitter.com/esullivanap and Julie Pace at https://twitter.com/jpaceDC


Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)

 

Related Articles Read More >

Part 6: IDE and other software for connectivity and IoT design work
Part 4: Edge computing and gateways proliferate for industrial machinery
Part 3: Trends in Ethernet, PoE, IO-Link, HIPERFACE, and single-cable solutions
Machine Learning for Sensors

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Global supply needs drive increased manufacturing footprint development
  • How to Increase Rotational Capacity for a Retaining Ring
  • Cordis high resolution electronic proportional pressure controls
  • WAGO’s custom designed interface wiring system making industrial applications easier
  • 10 Reasons to Specify Valve Manifolds
  • Case study: How a 3D-printed tool saved thousands of hours and dollars

Design World Podcasts

May 17, 2022
Another view on additive and the aerospace industry
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings