Mixed grades for Obama Administration on privacy issues

The Electronic Privacy Information Center released its Privacy Report Card for the Obama Administration (grading four key privacy subjects).

The grades are as follows:

• Consumer Privacy – Incomplete
• Medical Privacy – A‐
• Civil Liberties – C+, and
• Cyber Security – B

EPIC’s grades were based on a review of the Administration’s privacy initiatives. EPIC cited the vacancies on the Federal Trade Commission, the continuation of the Bush Administration’s policies on the use of the “state’s secrets privilege,” the Department of Homeland Security’s support for PASS ID, and privacy exemptions for social networking services as areas where the Administration has failed to protect privacy.

A panel of privacy experts offered their own perspective on how the Administration is doing on several key issues including: No-Fly list, border searches of digital devices, and behavioral marketing.

The scores given by EPIC did not reflect the public’s participation in the online scorecard. The public’s privacy report card for the Administration was “F” in all categories.