CCIA, Others Ask For More Transparency On Surveillance Practices
7/18/2013
In a letter
to President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and key House and Senate
leaders, a diverse group of more than 50 trade associations, companies, public
interest organizations and investors call for more transparency when the
government issues security-related data requests.
The letter is signed by organizations
that are not often on the same side. In the letter we ask that
companies be allowed to report statistics that would give clues about the scope
of government surveillance programs such as the number of government requests
for information using their authority under the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act or the US PATRIOT Act, as well as the number of individuals or
accounts requested and what type of data was requested. We ask those who
support the idea to sign a White House petition.
Specifically, those signed on to the
letter want the Justice Department to agree to let Internet, phone and
web-based service providers publish information on the government requests and
that Congress pass legislation demanding transparency form the feds and
allowing it from companies by clarifying the law so companies don’t have to get
permission from a FISA court before releasing this information to the public.
The Computer & Communications
Industry Association has been testifying before Congress for years warning of
the dangers of the lack of oversight on government surveillance programs. The
following can be attributed to CCIA President & CEO Ed Black.
“Without greater transparency, the public and
different branches of government cannot provide the checks and balances that a
program like this clearly requires in a democracy.
“We don’t doubt the good intentions of the
government workers charged with carrying out this surveillance, but any program
like this has negative side effects that ought to be weighed holistically.
Right now those who could provide information on the economic, trade or
diplomatic consequences are left out of the discussion or don’t have enough
information to weigh in and we’re seeing now just how devastating the lack of
debate and oversight can be.”
For more see Black’s Huffington Post opinion piece Tuesday:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-j-black/secrecy-democracy-and-the_b_3599317.html
Black worked on information and government security issues at
both the Commerce Department and State Department before leading CCIA.
