Security and Privacy
   
Response to Sept. 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
 
  • ALLIANCE TO END CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING
  • AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW LIBRARIES
  • AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS
  • ARIZONA TOXICS INFORMATION
  • ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIANS
  • CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
  • CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
  • CLEAN WATER ACTION
  • COALITION FOR HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS
  • N.C. CONSERVATION COUNCIL
  • COOK INLET KEEPER
  • DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE
  • ECOLOGY CENTER
  • ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
  • ELECTRONIC PRIVACY CENTER
  • ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE
  • FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
  • FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
  • GLOBAL INTERNET POLICY INITIATIVE
  • GREENPEACE
  • HAMPSHIRE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
  • MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES: HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT
  • NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST
  • NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL
  • NCOSH
  • NEW JERSEY WORK ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
  • OMB WATCH
  • PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
  • PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL
  • PROJECT ON GOVERNMENTAL OVERSIGHT
  • SALEM AUDOBON SOCIETY
  • SIERRA CLUB
  • SILICON VALLEY TOXICS COALITION
  • US PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP
  • UMass LOWELL: DEPT. OF WORK ENVIRONMENT

November 26, 2001

Dear Senator:

Senators Bennett and Kyl have introduced S. 1456, the "Critical Infrastructure Information Act," requiring the federal government to keep confidential any information that is "voluntarily" turned over by industry regarding "critical infrastructure." The legislation may be offered as an amendment to the bi-partisan bioterrorism bill introduced by Senators Kennedy and Frist or to any other piece of legislation that moves through the Congress in the final days of the session. The undersigned organizations urge senators to oppose this amendment.

The intent of the Bennett/Kyl language is to encourage the sharing of information that would strengthen national security against terrorist attacks on and through computer systems. In practice, however, the legislation could have the following devastating effects on the regulatory process and federal law enforcement:

  • Bar the federal government from disclosing information regarding spills, fires, explosions and other accidents without obtaining written consent from the company that had the accident.
  • Give the manufacturing sector unprecedented immunity from the civil consequences of violating the nation's environmental, tax, fair trade, civil rights, labor, consumer protection, and health and safety laws.
  • Sweep aside record-keeping and disclosure requirements under federal laws other than the Securities Exchange Act.

The legislation applies "notwithstanding any other provision of law," thereby repealing all other provisions that require the government to disclose � to the courts and the public � information about a company's compliance record. In effect, the legislation invites companies to engage in a "race to voluntarily disclose," so that information cannot be made publicly available with out their permission and volunteers are given immunity for auditing themselves and turning information about their violations over to the government.

Because the legislation does not prohibit disclosures by companies themselves, or their employees and competitors, it does not fulfill its stated purpose of protecting critical infrastructure information from being turned over to the terrorists. Apparently, some of the information it covers is not really sensitive data that could lead to harm to critical national infrastructures, but is, instead, information that companies would rather keep behind closed doors.

The Bennett/Kyl bill (S. 1456) was referred to the Governmental Affairs Committee, but no hearings have been held on this specific bill. The Senate should not pass provisions with such profound unintended consequences without considering their implications very carefully.

Thank you. For further information, please call Rena Steinzor at the Natural Resources Defense Council at 202-289-2364.

Sincerely,

Gary Bass  Rena Steinzor
Executive Director  Academic Fellow and Attorney
OMB Watch  Natural Resources Defense Council
   
David L. Sobel Jim Dempsey
General Counsel  Deputy Director
Electronic Privacy Information Center  Center for Democracy and Technology
   
John Chelen  Bill Snape
Hampshire Research Institute Vice President of Law and Litigation
  Defenders of Wildlife
Ed Hopkins  
Director, Environmental Quality Program Tracey Eastthorpe, MPH
Sierra Club Director, Environmental Health Project
  Ecology Center
Alyce Gowdy Wright  
NCOSH Danielle Brian
  Executive Director
John Runkle  Project on Governmental Oversight
General Counsel  
Conservation Council of North Carolina Laura Punnett, Sc.D
  Department of Work Environment
Lee Tien University of Massachusetts Lowell
Electronic Frontier Foundation  
  Andy Igrejas
Michael Gregory  Director
Arizona Toxics Information  Children's Environmental Health Campaign
  National Environmental Trust
Don Ryan  
Executive Director  Lucy Daglish
Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
   
Tony Tweedale Lynn Thorp
MT Coalition for Health, Environment & National Campaigns Coordinator
Economic Rights Clean Water Action
   
Jeremiah Baumann David Banisar
US Public Interest Research Group  Deputy Director
  Privacy International
Rick Engler  
Director Jim Conley
New Jersey Work Environmental Council President
  Salem Audobon Society
Charles N. Davis  
Executive Director Rick Hind
Kathleen Edwards Legislative Director, Toxics Campaign
Manager Greenpeace
Freedom of Information Center  
  Elizabeth Thompson
Ted Smith Legislative Director
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Environmental Defense
   
Kevin M. Goldberg  Lynn Lawson
American Society of Newspaper Editors MCS: Health and Environment
   
Bob Shavelson Prudence S. Adler,
Cook Inlet Keeper  Associate Executive Director
  Association of Research Librarians
Susan West Marmagas   
Director, Environment and Health Programs Mary Alice Baish
Physicians for Social Responsibility American Association of Law Libraries