Defending Rights & Dissent joined the Electroinc Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and 15 other organizations in an effort to prevent the U.S. Department of the Treasury from creating yet another illegal, privacy-defying national database. Together, we submitted comments objecting the Department’s proposal for massive data grabs of our personal information from states, vendors, and other institutions with a role in administering Treasury programs, including Emergency Rental Assistance, Homeowner Assistance, and other programs.
According to our allies at EPIC:
This database would contain the personal information of virtually any person or entity associated with financial assistance programs supervised by the Department, including emergency rental assistance, homeowners assistance, small business credit, and other programs. The Department also included over 20 overbroad routine uses that the Department could use to justify disclosing the information in the database with little restriction. This system could be used to further punish states that oppose the Administration or deny Congressionally-approved benefits to those entitled to receive them.
The Treasury Department has no authority to create an omnibus information system like this. Even if it did, the Department is violating the Privacy Act of 1974’s clear mandate to strictly minimize the collection of information and limit the use of any information that is collected. The Department makes unsubstantiated claims of “waste, fraud, and abuse” to justify the radical expansion of the information it holds. Again, even if it existed, the Department is violating the Paperwork Reduction Act by imposing significant and unnecessary burdens on the public and ignoring time-tested alternative methods to address it.
The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to accoumulate vast amounts of our private information and share it across the governement. We’ll continue to stand up against these affronts to our privacy, using every lever of power available to us.