Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco announced on February 3 an update prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on signals intelligence reform.  This is part of an effort to improve protections for privacy and civil liberties in U.S. surveillance activities.  The basis for these reforms is contained in Presidential Policy Directive-28, which President Obama signed on January 17, 2014.  President Obama delivered a speech on that day on surveillance.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would allow companies to publicly report more details about the government’s demands for user data under national security authorities. This is a very significant improvement over current law, but the enhanced disclosures still fall short of the recommendations provided by thePresident’s Review Group and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).   It also falls short of broadly supportive legislative proposals , providing less detailed reports on the number of requests and continuing to prohibit companies from specifying what provision of law authorized the order (for example, Section 702 or 703 of FISA).

First weeks of 2014 Promise a Busy Year on Student Data Privacy Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) announced plans today to introduce student data privacy legislation, likely amending the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The announcement was made at an EPIC event and featured reaction from CLIP’s Joel Ridenberg and USED CPO Kathleen Styles, among others. Senator Markey’s legislationwould restrict the use of student data for commercial purposes, require parental access and correction, require minimum security safeguards, and require private companies to delete information no longer needed to serve those students. SIIA responded that Federal Laws Protect Student Privacy. This week’s USED response to questions from Senator Markey similarly reinforced current federal protections. Meanwhile, state legislatures are considering bills across the country ranging from parental opt-in or opt-out to Parent’s Bill of Right ...

SIIA Responds to Student Privacy Fears With increased public attention to the issues of student data privacy in K-12 schools, SIIA released responses to Frequently Asked Questions about Student Data Privacy. SIIA hopes it will help address much of the public misunderstanding and inform policymakers. Adding to the debate was a recent critical study out of Fordham Law School, “Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools.” SIIA responded with a statement that the CLIP Study on Privacy and Cloud Computing Doesn’t Account for Strict Federal Data Protections. SIIA also held a webinar for members only with federal officials explaining FERPA guidance. SIIA expects 2014 to present a very busy state (and possibly federal) legislative season around student information privacy and related issues. For example, SIIA is reviewing recent NY State legislation after having testified in November before the state education committee.

On Monday, several of the largest and most popular IT service providers called for Global Government Surveillance Reform.  In a joint letter, AoL, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo called on the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information.