DHS Privacy Office 2008 Report to Congress Data Mining: Technology and Policy

Citation: DHS Privacy Office 2008 Report to Congress Data Mining: Technology and Policy (Dec. 2008).

The DHS Privacy Office provided this 2008 Report to Congress pursuant to Section 804 of the 9/11 Commission Act, entitled The Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007 (Data Mining Reporting Act or Act). The Act provides a new definition of “data mining” and requires the Department to report annually to the Congress. The 2008 Report was the DHS Privacy Office’s first comprehensive submission to the Congress under the Act. It discusses DHS programs that satisfy the Act’s definition of “data mining” in light of the Act’s content-reporting requirements. It summarizes the Privacy Office’s public workshop, "Implementing Privacy Protections in Government Data Mining," which was held on July 24-25, 2008. Finally, the report presents newly-announced privacy principles, developed jointly by the [DHS Privacy Office]] and the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), for research activities conducted by S&T, including those that involve data mining.