Rein in Domestic Spying - Call Congress Today!

Rein in Domestic Spying - Call Congress Today! Protect Privacy, Make Your Voice Heard! Enter your 5-digit zip code: CDT Privacy Policy

Congress is now facing a key decision about the Pentagon's development of a massive tool to "mine" the data of innocent Americans, looking for suspicious conduct - the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program.

Last month, the US Senate adopted an amendment ("the Wyden amendment") holding up deployment of TIA until basic questions are answered about its potential for error and abuse of privacy. But the amendment hasn't passed the House yet, and the Pentagon has begun to lobby against it.

Unless Members of Congress hear from their constituents, the Wyden amendment may quietly disappear. Use the box at the right to contact your elected representative in Washington -- and make your voice heard!

BACKGROUND

TIA is a Defense Department research project aimed at developing broad sweeps of commercial data - credit card records, store purchases, travel records, Internet logs, and medical data - billions of bits of information about the legal activities of innocent people. The idea is to "mine" this data searching for suspicious patterns that may indicate possible terrorists. It would be nice if it worked, but so far no one has explained how to avoid errors that can result in false arrests and people being denied jobs because they were flagged as a "terrorist" because their credit card usage - or their housemate's credit card usage - was suspicious.

CDT and many other privacy groups have raised concerns about the program, urging a moratorium on deployment of it against US citizens until basic questions can be answered. Our efforts have been successful so far -- the Senate passed the Wyden Amendment on a voice vote, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert expressed doubts about the TIA program. But we still need your help to make sure that the amendment survives the legislative process intact and becomes law.

The Wyden Amendment

The Wyden amendment (sometimes referred to as "Amendment # 59) blocks use of the Defense Department's TIA program unless Congress specifically authorizes it after the Administration submits a report the amendment requires about the program and its effect on privacy. The amendment was added to the omnibus continuing appropriations act, the massive spending bill for fiscal 2003, which passed the Senate on January 24.

Basically, Senators were reluctant to let further money be spent on a Big Brother program of uncertain benefit until its effectiveness is demonstrated, assuming it can be demonstrated, and privacy concerns are addressed, assuming they can be addressed.

Next Step: The "Conference"

The next big challenge is to preserve the amendment "in conference." The Senate bill must be reconciled with a House-passed spending bill that contains no provision on TIA. The House has appointed some of its senior Members to meet with senior Senators and work out the differences between the two bills. There is pressure to do this quickly, as the fiscal year is already 3 1/2 months old.

Resources

• Text of the Wyden amendment [pdf]
• January 14, 2003 letter from CDT and other civil liberties groups urging Congress to put a moratorium on TIA [pdf]
• Other materials about TIA