II
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1169
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 6, 2005
Mr. Feingold (for himself, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Jeffords, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To require reports to Congress on Federal agency use of data-mining
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Federal Agency Data-Mining Reporting
Act of 2005
.
Definitions
In this Act:
Data-Mining
The term data-mining means a query or search or other analysis of 1 or more electronic databases, whereas—
at least 1 of the databases was obtained from or remains under the control of a non-Federal entity, or the information was acquired initially by another department or agency of the Federal Government for purposes other than intelligence or law enforcement;
a department or agency of the Federal Government or a non-Federal entity acting on behalf of the Federal Government is conducting the query or search or other analysis to find a predictive pattern indicating terrorist or criminal activity; and
the search does not use a specific individual's personal identifiers to acquire information concerning that individual.
Database
The term database does not include telephone directories, news reporting, information publicly available via the Internet or available by any other means to any member of the public without payment of a fee, or databases of judicial and administrative opinions.
Reports on Data-Mining activities by Federal agencies
Requirement for report
The head of each department or agency of the Federal Government that is engaged in any activity to use or develop data-mining technology shall each submit a report to Congress on all such activities of the department or agency under the jurisdiction of that official. The report shall be made available to the public.
Content of report
A report submitted under subsection (a) shall include, for each activity to use or develop data-mining technology that is required to be covered by the report, the following information:
A thorough description of the data-mining technology and the data that is being or will be used.
A thorough description of the goals and plans for the use or development of such technology and, where appropriate, the target dates for the deployment of the data-mining technology.
An assessment of the efficacy or likely efficacy of the data-mining technology in providing accurate information consistent with and valuable to the stated goals and plans for the use or development of the technology.
An assessment of the impact or likely impact of the implementation of the data-mining technology on the privacy and civil liberties of individuals.
A list and analysis of the laws and regulations that govern the information being or to be collected, reviewed, gathered, analyzed, or used with the data-mining technology.
A thorough discussion of the policies, procedures, and guidelines that are in place or that are to be developed and applied in the use of such technology for data-mining in order to—
protect the privacy and due process rights of individuals; and
ensure that only accurate information is collected, reviewed, gathered, analyzed, or used.
Any necessary classified information in an annex that shall be available to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
Time for report
Each report required under subsection (a) shall be—
submitted not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act; and
updated once a year and include any new uses or development of data-mining technology.