5/27. The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report [71 pages in PDF] titled "Data Mining: Federal Efforts Cover a Wide Range of Uses".

The report finds that "Driven by advances in computing and data storage capabilities and by growth in the volumes and availability of information collected by the public and private sectors, data mining enables government agencies to analyze massive volumes of data. Our survey shows that data mining is increasingly being used by government for a variety of purposes, ranging from improving service or performance to analyzing and detecting terrorist patterns and activities."

The report defines data mining as "the application of database technology and techniques -- such as statistical analysis and modeling -- to uncover hidden patterns and subtle relationships in data and to infer rules that allow for the prediction of future results". The GAO surveyed chief information officers at 128 federal departments and agencies regarding whether their entities had operational and planned data mining systems or activities.

The report finds that "52 agencies are using or are planning to use data mining. These departments and agencies reported 199 data mining efforts, of which 68 were planned and 131 were operational." It also found that "122 used personal information".

The report finds that "Agencies also identified efforts to mine data from the private sector and data from other federal agencies, both of which could include personal information. Of 54 efforts to mine data from the private sector (such as credit reports or credit card transactions), 36 involve personal information. Of 77 efforts to mine data from other federal agencies, 46 involve personal information (including student loan application data, bank account numbers, credit card information, and taxpayer identification numbers)." (Parentheses in original.)

The report states that agencies are using data mining for "improving service or performance", "detecting fraud, waste, and abuse", "analyzing scientific and research information", "managing human resources", "detecting criminal activities or patterns", and "analyzing intelligence and detecting terrorist activities".

Privacy. The report discusses the privacy implications of data mining. It states that "Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, data mining has been seen increasingly as a useful tool to help detect terrorist threats by improving the collection and analysis of public and private sector data", and that "Such use of data mining by federal agencies has raised public and congressional concerns regarding privacy".

It continues that "Privacy concerns about mined or analyzed personal data also include concerns about the quality and accuracy of the mined data; the use of the data for other than the original purpose for which the data were collected without the consent of the individual; the protection of the data against unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure; and the right of individuals to know about the collection of personal information, how to access that information, and how to request a correction of inaccurate information."

It concludes that "more work is needed to shed light on the privacy implications of these efforts".

Examples of Government Data Mining. The GAO report contains summary tables that lists each data mining activity reported to the GAO by the survey respondents.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operates, or has planned, numerous data mining projects that use both personal data, and data acquired from the private sector, for purposes related to detecting crime and terrorist activities. For example, there is its forthcoming "Incident Data Mart", which "Will look through incident logs for patterns of events. An incident is an event involving a law enforcement or government agency for which a log was created (e.g., traffic ticket, drug arrest, or firearm possession). The system may look at crimes in a particular geographic location, particular types of arrests, or any type of unusual activity." (Parentheses in original.)

The Department of Defense (DOD) also operates numerous data mining projects. For example, there is its "Verity K2 Enterprise", which "Mines data from the intelligence community and Internet searches to identify foreign terrorists or U.S. citizens connected to foreign terrorism activities". It uses both personal data, and private sector data.

There is also a DOD project named "Pathfinder" that "Is a data mining tool developed for analysts that provides the ability to analyze government and private sector databases rapidly. It can compare and search multiple large databases quickly". It uses personal data. Both Pathfinder and Verity K2 Enterprise are used for detecting terrorist activity.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has an operational data mining project that "Supports the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force that seeks to prevent foreign terrorists from gaining access to the United States. Data from the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and public data sources are put into a data mart and mined to determine unlawful entry and to support deportations and prosecutions." It uses both private sector and personal data.

The Department of the Treasury has numerous data mining projects, that use personal information, for the purpose of "increasing tax compliance". Several planned projects will also use private sector data. One would also use data obtained from other government agencies. Some projects are intended to identify noncompliance, while others would predict abuse, or "evaluate and rate potentially fraudulent individual tax returns".

The Department of the Treasury's Secret Service has a project that "Mines data in suspicious activity reports received from banks to find commonalities in data to assist in strategically allocating resources." It uses personal data.

The Department of the Treasury also has a project that "Attempts to identify and stop fraudulent activity involving stolen credit cards to order products over the Internet or via telephone. Fraud rating identifiers are used to identify areas where fraud has occurred and to determine the likelihood of fraud. Allows for orders to be stopped or for orders over a certain dollar limit to be stopped." It uses personal data, private sector data, and data from other government agencies.

Several government agencies use data mining to investigate misuse of government provided credit cards.

Several government agencies use data mining to detect fraud in government pension and assistance programs.

The Department of Education uses data mining in its Pell grants program.

The NASA operates several data mining projects to analyze scientific and research information.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has a data mining project that "Generates and makes available compensation projection data, both salary and benefits, on current employees and on planned hires. It also accounts for planned attritions."

Agencies Not Using Data Mining. The report lists the agencies that were surveyed by the GAO, but which reported no data mining activities. This list includes the Department of Defense's (DOD) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The DARPA previously operated a program known as Total Information Awareness (TIA). It was cancelled at the DARPA following criticism from Congress.

The Department of Defense's (DOD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report [42 pages in PDF], titled "Information Technology Management: Terrorism Information Awareness Program", and dated December 12, 2003. See also, story titled "DOD Releases Report on DARPA's Total Information Awareness Program" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 809, January 5, 2004.

Also, on May 17, 2004, the DOD's Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee (TAPAC) released a report [140 pages in PDF] titled "Safeguarding Privacy in the Fight Against Terrorism". It addresses data mining by the DOD and the other federal agencies, the DARPA's TIA program, and individual privacy. See, story titled "DOD Advisory Committee Backs Data Mining, with Attention to Privacy" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 900, May 18, 2004.

The GAO surveyed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but it reported no data mining activities. The SEC investigates, and brings civil enforcement actions, for securities fraud, including insider trading.

Many federal entities were not surveyed, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The report was prepared for Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget, and International Security.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), and the ACLU wrote a letter to Sen. Akaka in which they stated that "This report shows just how widespread the embrace of such powerful techniques is becoming within government, and how little has been done to update our oversight mechanisms to compensate."

The three groups also wrote that "the report documents the widespread reliance on private-sector sources of information. This is significant because computers and computer chips are working their way into our daily lives to an amazing extent. While this is improving our lives in many ways, it is also creating a situation where Americans' every action, movement, and communication is likely to be recorded and stored in the memory of some computer database. And because the bulk of citizens' daily transactions occur within the private sector - which often has strong economic incentives to gather and store information -- government access to such databases creates the potential for a dramatic increase in government monitoring of individuals."

Also, on May 26, James Dempsey and Paul Rosenzweig released a paper [15 pages in PDF] titled "Technologies That Can Protect Privacy As Information Is Shared to Combat Terrorism". Dempsey is the Executive Director of the CDT. Rosenzweig is a research fellow  at the Heritage Foundation and an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law.

This paper states that "The same technology that permits the accumulation, sharing, and analysis of huge databases also allows for the incorporation into information sharing systems of features that protect information from abuse or misuse".

After discussing the nature of private sector and government databases, the privacy interests at stake, and the threats to privacy, the paper identifies, explains, and discusses three such technologies: "anonymization of data, permissioning rules built into the data and search engines to regulate access, and immutable audit trails that can identify abuse (while also assisting in linking people into ad hoc collaborative teams)". (Parentheses in original.)

5/26. Phil Bond, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology, gave a speech titled "Nanotechnology: Evolution and Revolution" at an event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania titled "Pennsylvania Nanotechnology Conference 2004".

He said that "As a policymaker, I hope to ensure that venture capitalists don't write off all nanotechnology because some of it's potential will be realized by my daughters' generation, or perhaps my grandchildren's generation. And to ensure that legislators, policymakers, regulators, judges and other non-technical stakeholders don't seek to preemptively impede the development paths of nanotechnology because they have read Michael Crichton's Prey on the big screen, or because a few outliers seek to fan the flames of public fear."

Bond (at right) continued that "Throughout history, promising technological advances have run into strong social resistance. From the advances of the Industrial Revolution, to alternating current, aircraft and automobiles -- there have been those who have found such technological achievements to be threatening to their livelihood or their perspectives. And you are involved in the ultimate disruptive technology. Disruptive on a scale with mass production and digital technology ... and that's saying something."

"Societal resistance can create substantial barriers to technology adoption and diffusion. It can deter or delay the entry of new technology, deter or delay its economic and social benefits, and its return on investment. In recent years we have seen such concerns play out with respect to nuclear power, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and others", said Bond.

He concluded that "Nanotechnology's future runs, in part, through the Nation's capital. The federal government plays an important role in funding fundamental, high-risk research. To borrow a line from BASF ads: We don't make nanotechnology products, but we fund the science and technology that makes nanotechnology products and processes possible. In addition, many of the societal and ethical concerns about nanotechnology research and products will be debated and addressed in Washington."

Hence, he encouraged his audience "to be involved, helping educate elected officials and opinion leaders about the true benefits and promise of nanotechnology."

5/27. Ira Hobbs was named Chief Information Officer of the Treasury Department effective June 13, 2004. He has been Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for seven years.

5/28. The Copyright Office published a notice in the Federal Register announcing alternative methods for the filing of claims to the cable and satellite royalty funds for the year 2003, and waiving its regulations governing the filing of cable and satellite claims. The notice states that this is because of continuing delays in the receipt of mail. The notice encourages the use of online filing. See, Federal Register, May 28, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 104, at Pages 30577 - 30580.

5/27. President Bush gave a speech at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee in which he discussed electronic health care records. He said that "Part of making sure health care is available is for medicine to use information technology". He also said that "within 10 years, we want most Americans to have electronic health care records".

5/27. The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a criminal information [11 pages in PDF] in U.S. District Court (NDCal) against NEC-Business Network Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of NEC America Inc. alleging wire fraud, aiding and abetting, and criminal violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

The DOJ filed the information under seal on May 25. On May 26 the DOJ filed a motion with the Court requesting that the information be unsealed on May 27.

The e-rate program was created by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) by its Order of May 8, 1997. It is a cross subsidy program. It provides subsidies to schools, libraries, and rural health clinics for various telecommunications services, internet access, and computer networking.

It is loosely based upon the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Section 254 of the Act codified the long standing practice of providing "universal service" support for telephone service in high cost and rural areas.  However, the Act also included a subsection that extended universal service support to any school, library and rural health clinic.

The first count alleges wire fraud and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 2

The Information alleges that "From at least December 1999 through March 2001 ... the defendant and others, devised and intended to devise a scheme to defraud the USAC and the San Francisco Unified School District ("SFUSD") and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises by submitting false documents in support of a SFUSD E-Rate application."

The second count alleges collusion in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1.

It alleges that defendant "and co-conspirators entered into and engaged in a combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition for E-Rate subsidized projects in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and South Carolina by allocating contracts for equipment and services relating to telecommunications, Internet access, and/or internal connections." The Information further alleges that defendant and co-conspirators met, discussed prospective bids, and "submitted fraudulent non-competitive bids in accordance with the conspiratorial agreement". The Information does not identify the co-conspirators.

This case is numbered CR 04-0184. See also, DOJ release.

The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is also examining waste, fraud and abuse in the e-rate program. See, stories titled "Rep. Barton Plans to Examine E-Rate Subsidies" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 850, March 5, 2004; Reps. Tauzin & Greenwood Request GAO Report on E-Rate Waste, Fraud & Abuse As Prelude to Oversight Hearing" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 791, December 3, 2003; House Commerce Committee Requests Information from IBM in E-Rate Fraud Investigation" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 698, July 15, 2003; "FCC Inspector General Reports on E-Rate Fraud" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 449, June 12, 2002; "Reps. Tauzin & Greenwood Write Powell Re Waste Fraud & Abuse In E-Rate Program" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 624, March 17, 2003; and "FCC Announces Order and NPRM Regarding E-Rate Subsidies" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 648, April 24, 2003.

The House is in recess. The House will next convene at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, June 1. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate is in recess. The Senate will next convene at 10:00 AM on June 1. At 2:15 PM, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S 2062, the "Class Action Fairness Act of 2004".

The Supreme Court is in recess. It will return on June 1.

9:00 AM. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and European Union Ambassador to the U.S. Günter Burghardt will hold an event to sign an agreement on the exchange of Passenger Name-Record (PNR) Information. The DHS notice states that this event starts at 9:30 AM. It further states that this event is "OPEN PRESS", and that "Press wishing to attend this event must present valid press credentials and enter the Reagan Building through the 14th Street entrance. Press MUST arrive no later than 8:30 AM EDT for PRESET and final access will be 9:00 AM EDT. Press contact: 202 282-8010. Location: Briefing Room, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) [97 pages in PDF] regarding issues relating to services and applications utilizing internet protocol (IP). This NPRM is FCC 04-28 in WC Docket No. 04-36. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 29, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 60, at Pages 16193 - 16202. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM Regarding Regulation of Internet Protocol Services" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 837, February 16, 2004.

Memorial Day. The FCC and other federal agencies will be closed. There will be no issue of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert.

The House and Senate will return from the Memorial Day recess.

Day one of a four day conference and expo hosted by the Wireless Communications Association International (WCA) titled "WCA 2004". See, agenda. Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 660 Woodley Park Road, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding broadband over powerline systems. The FCC adopted this NPRM on February 12, 2004. See, story titled "FCC Adopts Broadband Over Powerline NPRM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 836, February 13, 2004. The FCC released the text of this NPRM on February 23, 2004. This NPRM is FCC 04-29 in ET Docket Nos. 03-104 and 04-37. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 17, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 52, at Pages 12612-12618.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order [53 pages in PDF] regarding cognitive radio technologies and software defined radios. This item is FCC 03-322 in ET Docket No. 03-108 and ET Docket No. 00-47. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 17, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 31, at Pages 7397 - 7411, and story titled "FCC Releases Cognitive Radio Technology NPRM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 808, December 31, 2003.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding amending the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to revise the fees charged to entities accessing the National Do Not Call Registry. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 30, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 84, at Pages 23701 - 23705.

9:30 - 10:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Security and Reliability Council will meet. See, FCC notice [PDF] of May 26, 2004, and notice in the Federal Register, April 30, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 84, at Page 23758. Location: FCC, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

9:30 AM - 4:30 PM. The Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will hold a closed meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 4, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 86, at Page 24571. Location: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building 222, Red Training Room, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Advancing the DTV Transition: An Examination of the FCC Media Bureau Proposal". The hearing will be webcast. Press contact: Jon Tripp (Barton) at 202-225-5735 or Sean Bonyun (Upton) at 202-225-3761. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:45 AM - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will sponsor a public forum on how "the relationship between local media and government can be strengthened to support local market operational readiness to cope with terrorist attacks, natural disasters or other similar occurrences". Press contact: Meribeth McCarrick at 202 418-0654 or Meribeth.McCarrick@fcc.gov. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, 445 12th Street, SW.

12:00 NOON. The Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) will host a luncheon program titled "The Supreme Court and the Future of the Telecom Act of 1996". The speakers will be Kenneth Starr (Kirkland & Ellis), Christopher Wright (Harris Wiltshire & Grannis), and Randolph May (PFF). Lunch will be served at 12:00 NOON. The program will begin at 12:30 PM. See, notice and registration page. Press contact: David Fish at 202 289-8928 or dfish@pff.org. Location: First Amendment Room, National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor.

1:30 PM. The House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census will hold an oversight hearing titled "Who Might be Lurking at Your Cyber Front Door? Is Your System Really Secure? Strategies and Technologies to Prevent, Detect and Respond to the Growing Threat of Network Vulnerabilities." Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on several nominees, including Deborah Majoras (to be Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission), Jon Leibowitz (to be a Commissioner of the FTC), Brett Palmer (to be Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Commerce), and Benjamin Wu (to be Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy at the Department of Commerce). Press contact: Rebecca Fisher at 202 224-2670. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

Day two of a four day conference and expo hosted by the Wireless Communications Association International (WCA) titled "WCA 2004". At 8:30 - 10:30, AM Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy and Jonathan Adelstein, and NTIA acting Director Michael Gallagher are scheduled to speak on a panel titled "VoIP As A Frontier For Wireless Growth". At 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM, Ed Thomas (Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology), Tom Hazlett (a former Chief Economist of the FCC), and others are scheduled to speak on "The FCC's Interference Temperature Plan: Threat or Opportunity?" at 10:45 AM. See, agenda. Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 660 Woodley Park Road, NW.

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Overseers will hold a public meeting. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 14, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 94, Page 26808 - 26809.

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) will hold a closed meeting to provide a briefing on Special Publication 800-37, titled "Guide for the Security Certification and Accreditation of Federal Information Systems". For more information, contact Angela Ellis at 301 975-3881 or angela.ellis@nist.gov. Location: Green Auditorium, NIST Main Campus, Gaithersburg, MD.

9:30 AM. The House Commerce Committee will meet to markup HR 3266, the "Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act of 2003" and HR __, the "Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act". The meeting will be webcast. Press contact: Larry Neal or Jon Tripp at 202 225-5735. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The DC Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section and Trade Secrets Committee will host a program titled "Licensing Trade Secrets And Know-How: Realizing Value From IP's Forgotten Species". The speaker will be Ronald Bleeker of the law firm of Finnegan Henderson. Prices vary. See, notice. For more information, contact 202 626-3463. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H Street, NW.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled "70th Anniversary of the Communications Act". See, registration form [PDF]. Prices vary. Location: Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave., NW.

Day three of a four day conference and expo hosted by the Wireless Communications Association International (WCA) titled "WCA 2004". At 8:30 AM, there will be a panel discussion titled "Unlocking MDS & ITFS Spectrum Values With Regulatory Reform". The speakers will be Paul Sinderbrand (Wilkinson Barker Knauer), Bryan Tramont (FCC Chief of Staff), a representative of the FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Patrick Gossman (Chairman of the National ITFS Association), and Todd Rowley (Sprint). At 9:30 AM, there will be a panel discussion titled "FCC View From the Eighth Floor". The speakers will be Barry Ohlson (Senior Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein), Samuel Feder (Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin), Paul Margie (Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Michael Copps), Lauren Van Wazer (Chairman of the FCC Broadband Wireless Task Force), and Mary Greczyn (Freedom Technologies). See, agenda. Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 660 Woodley Park Road, NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of propose rulemaking (NPRM) regarding imposing mandatory minimum Customer Account Record Exchange (CARE) obligations on all local and interexchange carriers. This item is FCC 04-50 in CG Docket No. 02-386. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 19, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 75, at Pages 20845 - 20851.

Day four of a four day conference and expo hosted by the Wireless Communications Association International (WCA) titled "WCA 2004". See, agenda. Location: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 660 Woodley Park Road, NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding its Hart Scott Rodino premerger notification rules. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 8, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 68, at Pages 18685 - 18721.

Deadline to submit comments to the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act Task Force draft report that makes recommendations concerning the improvement of electronic dissemination of information collected under federal requirements, and a plan to develop an interactive government wide internet program to identify applicable collections and facilitate compliance. See, notice in the Federal Register, May 5, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 87, at Pages 25147 - 25157.