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WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans' civil liberties.
In a report for release Friday, The Constitution Project warns that as the Obama administration partners more with the energy, financial, communications and health care industries to monitor and protect networks, sensitive personal information of people who work for or communicate with those companies could be improperly or inadvertently disclosed.
While the government may have good intentions, it "runs the risk of establishing a program akin to wiretapping all network users' communications," the nonpartisan legal think tank says. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report in advance.
Cybersecurity has become a rapidly expanding priority for the government as federal agencies, private companies and everyday people come under persistent and increasingly sophisticated computer attacks. The threat is diverse, ranging from computer hackers going after banking and financial accounts to terrorists or other nations breaching government networks to steal sensitive data or sabotage critical systems such as the electrical grid, nuclear plants or Wall Street.
Privacy has been a hotly debated issue, particularly as the Pentagon broadens its pilot program to help defense contractors protect their networks and systems. Several companies, including critical jet fighter and drone programs, have been attacked, although the Pentagon has said that no classified information was lost.
And there are plans for the Homeland Security Department to use the defense program as a model to prevent hackers and hostile nations from breaching critical infrastructure. Officials have suggested that Congress needs to craft legislation that would protect companies from certain privacy and other laws in order to share information with the government for cybersecurity purposes.
DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said the legislative proposals reflect the administration's commitment to privacy protections and contain standards to minimize contact with personal information while dealing with cybersecurity threats. "DHS builds strong privacy protections into the core of all cybersecurity programs and initiatives," Chandler said, adding that the agency realizes that providing assistance to private companies is a sensitive task that requires "trust and strict confidentiality."
The Constitution Project report recommends that officials limit the amount and nature of personal information shared between the public and private sectors. And it calls for strict oversight of the cyber programs by Congress and independent audits, to ensure that privacy rights have not been violated.
"The government should not be permitted to conduct an end-run around Fourth Amendment safeguards by relying upon private companies to monitor networks," it said.
In addition, the report raised concerns about the ongoing development of the Einstein 3 program, a government network monitoring system that would both detect and take action against cyberattacks on federal systems. DHS officials have said that extensive privacy protections are in place.
But the report expressed concerns that as DHS and the secretive National Security Agency share information about potential computer-based threats, the NSA could review communications from U.S. individuals without setting up privacy safeguards.
"With more and more people needing to share sensitive personal and financial data over the Internet, it is absolutely vital that, while we are looking to protect our networks against cyberattack, we also preserve our constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy," said Constitution Project committee member Asa Hutchinson, a former DHS undersecretary who also served as a GOP congressman from Arkansas.
Lawmakers who have been wrestling with these issues over the past several years have several bills in the works, and most include some privacy provisions.
January 27, 2012 @ 4:47 pm
Seik Heil!
January 27, 2012 @ 4:52 pm
Welcome to the Socialistic States of America unless people decide to turn back to God in great numbers and vote the right people into office in WDC as well as each state, county and city. Man and all his efforts will not be able to change anything without God.
Nahum 1:3 – The LORD is slow to anger and great in power And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
Jeremiah 17:5 -Thus says the LORD, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Ephesians 6:10-Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
January 27, 2012 @ 8:54 pm
Can someone please tell me where in the Constitution it says we have a guaranteed right to privacy? People keep saying and printing this but I haven’t found it yet.
January 27, 2012 @ 9:05 pm
*** “Congress needs to craft legislation that would protect companies from certain privacy and other laws in order to share information with the government for cybersecurity purposes.” ***
What “certain privacys” would any company need to be protected FROM? Why does the DHS have to have more controll over cybermessaging.
Sounds like another attempted end run by The Hill to keep tabs on everyone’s conversations without needing the courts permission.
Watch out folks, they just keep trying to take control of us.
January 27, 2012 @ 9:09 pm
From the sounds of the messages I’m getting from Goggle, warning me they are changing their security policies as of 3/1/2012, I guess they will be the first ones to team up with the DHS spy ring.
January 27, 2012 @ 11:38 pm
“The government should not be permitted to conduct an end-run around Fourth Amendment safeguards by relying upon private companies to monitor networks,”
But they will. It’s not the first time Obama has done an end-run around the Constitution or Congress. He is determined to have control of the internet and if he has to use private companies to get the ball rolling, he can later move in for the control he wants.
January 28, 2012 @ 4:14 am
Fox News; one-quarter programming and three-quarters commercials.
Hey, Fox News channel; Americans are already paying for television. Does the taxpayer really need to pay for a news outfit trying to sell him something– ad nauseam– through endless commercials, which gang- rape the fine sensibilities of the viewer?
Fox News spins a merchant ploy, which is the equivalent of politicians discussing a plan to “raise taxes” on the already broken back of the American taxpayer, while the people live under the boot of the hidden tax of usury to the Federal Reserve.
Wise up, “Faux News.” The people are not dumb cattle, to be herded by endless salesmanship!
January 28, 2012 @ 4:38 am
“I am paying for this microphone.”–President Ronald Wilson Reagan.
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