October 2013

Following mounting pressure from data protection agencies (DPAs) in different European countries, Google has started offering so-called data processing agreements to websites using its Google Analytics suite in the European Union, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland.

Up to now Google did not provide such contracts because it maintains that it does not process personal data. Since 2011 it has offered such agreements only in Germany, after demands from the German DPA. In a way it's also a preemptive move by Google, as Europe is moving towards a new, uniform and in some respects stricter privacy regulation, said privacy expert Herman van Braam, owner of Dutch hosting service Privyon. Under the new regime, which is still being ironed out in Brussels, one national DPA will rule on privacy issues for the whole EU, and fines can be up to two percent of the worldwide revenue of a company. In Google's case, that means potential fines of up to $1 billion.

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) made a series of recommendations to the President’s Review Group on Surveillance Reform focusing on Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) as amended by the FISA Amendments Act, enhanced transparency, and the structure of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”).

CDT said the Review Group should recommend an end to bulk collection of telephony metadata under Section 215, and that it should prevent bulk collection under similar legal authorities. Nine bills introduced in Congress take this approach. Additionally, CDT advocated for an end to prospective surveillance under Section 215. CDT urged the Review Group to recommend raising the standard of certainty in “foreignness” of targets beyond the NSA’s current 51% standard for Section 702 surveillance, and that it end the ongoing mass “upstream” collection of communications that merely mention a target. CDT also urged the Review Group to recommend limits on the purpose of Section 702 surveillance and that it advise the President to apply the privacy provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to its surveillance that targets people abroad. The Review Group should also recommend transparency measures and finally, CDT urged the Review Group to endorse having a Special Advocate argue for privacy and civil liberties at FISA court proceedings – a concept the President already endorsed.

Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the National Coordinator for Health IT at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will join the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform as a Visiting Fellow.

Dr. Mostashari plans to work on a range of topics related to helping clinicians improve care and patient health through health IT, with a focus on small practice transformation by developing innovative payment models that can better support these types of practices. Dr. Mostashari previously served as Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) at HHS. In his four years at ONC, he has been integrally involved in leading a broad range of initiatives to promote more effective use of health IT to improve care.

[Commentary] In a lengthy interview with New York Magazine, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he uses the Internet -- but doesn't seem particularly thrilled by what he sees.

Earlier this year, Justice Elena Kagan suggested the Supreme Court as a whole hasn't really "gotten" to e-mail. But when asked about his own connectivity, Justice Scalia told New York Magazine "[s]ure, I use the Internet." He didn't blame all societal ills on the Web, but he did take some potshots at bloggers and social media users: “I’m nervous about our civic culture. I’m not sure the Internet is largely the cause of it. It’s certainly the cause of careless writing.”