NEW PRIVACY PROTECTION LEGISLATION

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New Privacy Protection Legislation

ISSUE: Concerned about growing encroachments on our individual rights, cloaked in a shroud of "patriotic" governmental acts? Now there's something that you can do about it.

Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH) has introduced legislation to implement stringent privacy protections for individuals. The legislation, the Defense of Privacy Act (H.R. 338), requires federal agencies to assess the privacy implications of proposed rules and regulations.

"In the past several years, privacy rights have, too often, been an afterthought in the regulatory process," said Chabot. "This proposal will force agencies to open their eyes to legitimate privacy concerns."

Chabot's Defense of Privacy Act would require federal agencies to take into account privacy concerns when developing and implementing regulations, to prepare a privacy impact analysis of regulations that have been introduced, and to ensure a periodic review of the impact on privacy by the regulations that have been instituted. (Read the full bill at thomas.loc.gov)

Chabot has been a leader in the effort to compel federal agencies to consider the privacy rights of individuals when issuing rules and regulations. In the 106th Congress, Chabot first introduced the Defense of Privacy Act. In the last Congress, Chabot and former-Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), then-Chairman of the subcommittee of primary jurisdiction for the legislation, spearheaded the successful passage of the legislation in the House, but it failed to pass the Senate.

Now, it's back on the agenda, and it's time to pass it all the way through.

ACTION ITEM: "The sphere of privacy, which Justice Brandeis eloquently described as the 'right to be let alone,' is not only rapidly diminishing, it is increasingly penetrable," said Barr. "Special care is necessary to ensure that personal information remains personal, absent a sound reason to treat it otherwise. This value is neither Republican or Democratic; liberal or conservative, it is an American value."

"This legislation takes the first -- necessary -- step toward protecting the privacy of information collected by the federal government. Unlike a private commercial gatherer of personal data, the government can put you in jail based on what it uncovers. For this reason, the government has an obligation to exercise greater responsibility when enacting policies that undermine privacy rights," Barr continued.

A hearing on the bill is currently scheduled for this week. Go to our site below to send your Congressman a FREE message, asking him or her to support H.R. 338, the "Defense of Privacy Act":
SUPPORT H.R. 338

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[RightWhale]

After they get some definition on this issue, maybe they'll work on defining private property rights.

[steve50]

After they get some definition on this issue, maybe they'll work on defining private property rights.


I thought they already had. It's all theirs.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[cdrw]

Sounds like just another bag of political hot air designed to support election claims. Requiring review and consideration is totally meaningless with neither specific restrictions on privacy violating actions nor with some clear delineation of what our "privacy rights" are and under what circumstances they can be violated.

True leadership would be a codification of our rights and protection thereof. The rest is all just paper shuffling politics. Privacy is a matter of Liberty in my view. I'm not up on all the law but it seems the framers left us very exposed on this one because there was no way for them to envision the magnitude of todays privacy issues.