House Passes Markey Privacy Amendment to Transportation, Treasury Appropriations Bill
HOUSE PASSES MARKEY PRIVACY AMENDMENT TO TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY APPROPRIATIONS BILL
Lawmaker's amendment passes following announcement of $20 million IRS-ChoicePoint contract
Washington, DC: Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Co-Chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus,
today offered a privacy amendment to H.R. 3058, the Transportation, Treasury and Housing spending bill.
Rep. Markey's amendment, which prevents any funding in the bill from being spent on any activities that
violate the Privacy Act or regulations that implement the Act, was accepted by the Appropriations
Subcommittee responsible for drafting H.R. 3058 and will be included in the House version of the
legislation.
"This week, the IRS announced it signed a $20 million contract with ChoicePoint, the mammoth data
profiling company that leaked the personal information of an estimated 145,000 Americans as result of a
breach of its operations in February 2005. The recent wave of privacy thefts has swept up the personal
information of almost 50 million Americans. The Federal government's increasing reliance on third party
contractors such as ChoicePoint, LexisNexis and other companies to collect, analyze and process personal
information about U.S. residents requires an urgent reminder to government agencies and their contractors
of their obligations under the Privacy Act. My amendment that the House included in the Transportation,
Treasury spending bill today underscores the importance of the Act's requirements, which are designed to
protect the privacy of individuals whose information is collected for various purposes," Rep. Markey said.
"While the Privacy Act does a very good job of curbing Big Brother's ability to peep into our personal
business, there is an increasing risk of massive privacy breaches caused by what some have called "Big
Brother's Little Helpers" - the information brokers and dating mining firms that federal agencies are
increasingly using to gather and analyze personal data about the American public. My amendment puts
agencies funded through this bill on notice that they must pay very close attention to how they - and any
contractors they may hire - comply with the Privacy Act. It does not change current law, but it does
reaffirm our commitment to the strong privacy principles embodied in the Privacy Act. I will continue to
work to strengthen privacy safeguards on personal information and ensure that this provision is included
in the final version of this spending bill," Rep. Markey concluded.
For information on Rep. Markey's efforts to strengthen privacy protections, visit www.house.gov/markey
http://www.house.gov/markey/Issues/iss_privacy_pr050630.pdf