Administration Releases Long-Awaited Study on “Big Data” and Privacy
On May 1, the White House released its long-awaited report on “big data and privacy.” The report, entitled “Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values,” is the result of a 90 day study directed by President Obama in January. Overall, the report captures the great opportunities presented by data-driven innovation, and it highlights a wide range of conclusions and makes concrete recommendations for Administration attention and policy development in a few key areas. As highlighted by the study’s lead, John Podesta, the report represents a starting point for an increased focus on policy issues related to big data by the Obama Administration.
In response to the study, SIIA released a press statement welcoming the report and highlighting the effectiveness of current legal and regulatory framework to accommodate privacy and security concerns associated with big data. SIIA also supports the specific proposals in the report about maximizing the educational benefits of data and making an important contribution to the International discussion.
SIIA is thoroughly reviewing the White House study, as well as a related study issued by the President”s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which takes a more detailed and “technological perspective” on big data and privacy. We will provide a detailed summary and analysis of the reports for members in the near future.
President Obama and Chancellor Merkel Repeat Positions on Privacy/Surveillance
At a May 2 press conference the President reiterated that he had “taken the unprecedented step of ordering our intelligence communities to take the privacy interests of non-U.S. persons in everything they do, something that’s not been done before and most other countries in the world do not do.” Obama also said that the United States was committed to a “cyberdialogue” with Germany. He was firm, however, that there would be no “no spy” agreement between the two countries.
The Chancellor said: “Under the present conditions, we have, (after all ?), possibilities, as regards differences of opinion, to overcome these differences in the medium term and in the long term.” She mentioned the U.S.-Germany cyberdialogue, the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework negotiations, and the Eu’s proposed General Data Protection Regulation. Chancellor Merkel also called for more cooperation between parliaments, i.e. the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament. The German leaders mentioned “proportionality” as one issue still dividing the United States and Germany. What that means is that from the German perspective, national security-related privacy exceptions must be “proportional” to the national security risk at hand.
David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy.