CONTENTS STATEMENTS OF WITNESSES Bahmer, Dr. Robert H., Archivist of the United States, National Archives DeFranco, Edward, executive assistant to director, New York State Eckler, A. Ross, Director, Bureau of the Census; accompanied by Howard Kaysen, Dr. Carl, director Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Uni- Page 129 105 102 Miller, Arthur R., professor of law, University of Michigan_.. 66 Piore, Dr. Emanuel R., vice president and chief scientist, International 117 Speiser, Lawrence, director, Washington office, American Civil Liberties 137 Zwick, Charles J., Assistant Director, Bureau of the Budget; accompanied by Raymond T. Bowman, Assistant Director for Statistical Standards HEARING DAYS EXHIBITS Report of the Task Force on the Storage of and Access to Government Ross, Mr. D. Reid, executive vice president, St. Louis Regional Industrial Development Corp., St. Louis, Mo.; letter dated March 9, 1967, from Letter from D. Reid Ross to Senator Long explaining the proposal to create a regional data bank in the St. Louis region, dated February 2, 1967 (with accompanying report elaborating on the proposal) - Letter from Senator Long to Mr. Ross (dated February 13, 1967) inviting Federal Communications Commission's inquiry of November 9, 1966, and a supplemental inquiry of March 1, 1967 (Docket No. 16979) pertaining to the "Regulatory and Policy Problems Presented by the Interde- pendence of Computer and Communication Services and Facilities". Letter to Senator Long from Professor Arthur Miller subsequent to hear- ings regarding questions raised on “optical scanners" (March 28, 1967)_ Telegram from Dr. Robert R. J. Gallati, Director, of New York State Identification and Intelligence System, Albany, N. Y., to Senator Long Memorandum for the Record concerning results of Subcommittee's ques- tionnaire to agencies and departments RE: amount, nature, and use of information in Government files. Letter to Senator Long from Leo V. Bodine, Executive Vice President, National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, D.C., with accom- panying report by C. L. Hutchinson, Chairman of the NAM Computer Subcommittee RE: National Data Center.. Letter from Senator Long responding to Mr. Bodine's correspondence.... Letter from Senator Long to Chairman Rosel Hyde, Federal Communica- tions Commission, concerning the computer and the potential invasion Letter from A. Ross Eckler, Director, Bureau of the Census, to Senator Long Bibliography by Robert L. Chartrand, Information Sciences Specialist, Science Policy Research Division, Library of Congress' Legislative "Information Concerning the Proposed Federal Data Center", by Robert 145 149 Corcoran, Thomas F., "On the Confidential Status of Census Reports", (Staff Member, House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, Sub- committee on Census and Government Statistics) - - Karst, Kenneth L.; "The Files: Legal Controls Over the Accuracy and Accessibility of Stored Personal Data". Nixon, Julian; "Federal Data Centers Present and Proposed" (Council of Social Science Data Archives, New York, New York). "Privacy and Behavioral Research", Report prepared for the Office of Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President (not printed) _ "Privacy and Behavioral Research", by Oscar M. Ruebhausen and Orville Rothman, S.; "Centralized Government Information Systems and Pri- Shils, Edward; "Privacy and Power". "Time, Leisure and the Computer: The Crisis of Modern Technology", speech by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, at Howard University, Washington, D.C. (March 1, 1967). "To Preserve Privacy", editorial from New York Times, August 9, 1966.... "Computer Plan for Personal 'Dossiers' in Santa Clara Stirs Fears of Invasion of Privacy”, news article in New York Times of August 1, 1966 "Computers Will Bring Problems Along with Their Many Benefits", news article by Stanley Penn in the Wall Street Journal of December 20, 1966. Letter from H. Taylor Buckner, Assistant Professor of Sociology, San Fran- cisco State College, to The Editor of The American Sociologist, concerning COMPUTER PRIVACY TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1967 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICE AND Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 1318 New Senate Office Building, Senator Edward V. Long of Missouri (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Long of Missouri (presiding) and Thurmond. Also present: Bernard Fensterwald, Jr., Chief Counsel; Bernard J. Waters, Senator Dirksen's office, Minority Counsel; and Benny L. Kass, Assistant Counsel. Senator LONG. The subcommittee will be in order. This morning the Subcommittee on Administrative practice and Procedure resumes hearings on the role of the computer as a potential invasion of individual privacy. Last summer, we explored proposals to create a Federal Data Center-the so-called Data Banks-with Dr. Edgar Dunn, a consultant to the Bureau of the Budget. In my opening statement last year, I said that if these proposals for a Data Bank concern themselves only with Government interests, and if individual, private interests were ignored, we might be creating a form of Frankenstein monster. Since that hearing, considerable thought has been given, both in and out of government, to problems of privacy. Scholars, statisticians, and computer experts have met with responsible government officials in scores of meetings and panel discussions. It is probably safe to say now that if a Federal Data Center is ever created, safeguards for individual privacy will be built into the system. In fact, many electronic specialists believe that greater safeguards can be programed into computer systems than those presently existing in the Government file cabinet. Dr. Carl Kaysen, chairman of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and Chairman of the President's Task Force on the Storage of and Access to Government Statistics, recently submitted his report on the Data Center to the Bureau of the Budget. In a precise and highly significant annex to this report, entitled "The Right to Privacy, Confidentiality and the National Data Center," Dr. Kaysen writes: In general, our Committee believes that the problem of the threat to privacy can be met best by Congressional action, which defines a general statutory standard governing the disclosure of information that is collected on individuals. 1 Beginning this morning, we intend to analyze guidelines for safeguarding existing records; we will fully explore the role of the computer, with an emphasis on its future capabilities. We will attempt to draw a balance between individual privacy and computerized efficiency. In short, we will answer the request of the Kaysen Committee for procedures which "will protect confidentiality and insure the privacy of the individual." But, as Dr. Kaysen correctly pointed out, this task is not for the Congress alone. Agencies and departments of the Federal Government must take stock of the various types of information contained in their own files before they can even consider consolidation into any data bank. Shortly after our last hearing, we began to realize that no one in Government really knew how much was stored on individual citizens. Accordingly, I sent a questionnaire to every Federal Department and agency asking them to list this information. The results of this survey have just been tabulated by the Census Bureau and they are to be commended for their excellent cooperation. Let me briefly run down some of the immediate highlights of the subcommittee survey. First, the Government keeps files on just about every imaginable bit of information on an individual's life-from the cradle to the grave. And the number of files is enormous. For example, Government reported that our names alone appeared in the files 2,800 million times. Our social security numbers are listed 1,500 million times. Other figures include: police records-264,500,000; medical history-342 million; and psychiatric history-279 million. With those type figures, they give you some need for psychiatric care. Of course, these figures are somewhat meaningless since we do not know how many individuals are involved; every time we fill out some Government form, these numbers are increased. But what is of concern to us, however, are the following discoveries: many agencies require individuals to divulge personal information and yet give no pledge and are under no requirements to keep this information confidential. Included in this category are: court actions or involvements— 19,253,000; security reports-17,693,000; psychiatric history-107,000. We have just received these statistics, and plan to study them in detail. But even from our preliminary analysis, it seems clear that many of our Government agencies must put their own house in order before rushing ahead with data bank plans. The Chair is glad to note the distinguished Senator from South Carolina, a member of the committee, is present this morning. Senator, would you have any statement or would you care to make any statement at the opening of the hearing? Senator THURMOND. No, sir. I am very much interested in the subject and shall be pleased to cooperate with the distinguished Chairman. Senator LONG. Thank you, Senator. You always have, and we certainly look forward to having you with us in these hearings. Our first witness this morning is Dr. Carl Kaysen, director, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University. The doctor, I understand, is at the table. For the record, will you state your name and your official position and, I believe, you have a prepared statement. STATEMENT OF CARL KAYSEN, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, PRINCETON, N.J. Dr. KAYSEN. I do, Senator, and if you like I will read it or should I just enter it into the record and summarize it? Senator LONG. Go ahead and read it if you care to or handle it whatever way you think will best make your presentation to the subcommittee. Dr. KAYSEN. Thank you. I will read it and see if I can skip a little. My name is Carl Kaysen. I live at 97 Olden Lane, Princeton, N.J. I am director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. If I may, sir, off the record, observe it is not part of Princeton University. By profession I am an economist, and it is in this capacity that I undertook the responsibility of being chairman of the task force on storage and access to Government statistics, that reported to the Director of the Budget. At the time I did so last year I was littauer professor of political economy and associate dean of the graduate school of public administration at Harvard University. The purpose of the task force was to examine a problem in Government organization and operation which the members of the committee thought was of importance to the Government and to the public, looking at the problem from a perspective which most of us on the committee shared as users of Government statistics. As economists we are aware that both the intellectual development of economics and its practical success have depended greatly on the large body of quantitative information on the whole range of economic activity that is publicly available in modern, democratic states. Much of this material is the byproduct of regulatory, administrative, and revenue-raising activities of government, and its public availability reflects our democratic ethos. In the United States there is a central core of demographic, economic, and social information that is collected, organized, and published by the Census Bureau in response to both governmental and public demands for information, rather than simply as the reflex of other governmental activities. Over time, and especially in the last three or four decades, there has been a continuing improvement in the coverage, consistency, and quality of these data that has in great part resulted from the containing efforts of social scientists and statisticians both within and without the Government. Without these improvements in the stock of basic quantitative information, our recent success in the application of sophisticated economic analyses to problems of public policy would have been impossible. We were moved by professional concern for the quality and usability of the enormous body of Government data to take on what they thought to be a necessary, important, and totally unglamorous task. I think we turned out to be wrong about this last part. The central problem which the task force addressed was the consequences of the trend toward increasing decentralization in the Federal statistical system at a time when the demand for more and more detailed quantitative information was growing rapidly. Currently, 21 agencies of Government have significant statistical programs. The largest four of these-the Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the |