In a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security, EPIC and a Coalition of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties organizations demanded the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) end some of the agency’s more pervasive surveillance programs. The coalition called for DHS to end its practice of purchasing sensitive data (e.g. cellphone location and utility information) from third-party vendors and cease the collection of social media identifiers. The coalition also urged DHS to implement a moratorium on the use of face recognition for immigration enforcement. In previous comments to DHS, EPIC opposed DHS collecting social media identifiers and called for DHS to suspend the use of facial recognition.
In a report published today, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on governments to “ban AI applications that cannot be operated in compliance with international human rights law and impose moratoriums on the sale and use of AI systems that carry a high risk for the enjoyment of human rights, unless and until adequate safeguards to protect human rights are in place.” The report also stresses the need for comprehensive data protection legislation in addition to a regulatory approach to AI that prioritizes protection of human rights. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet explained: "The risk of discrimination linked to AI-driven decisions - decisions that can change, define or damage human lives - is all too real. This is why there needs to be systematic assessment and monitoring of the effects of AI systems to identify and mitigate human rights risks.” EPIC has long advocated for comprehensive data protection legislation, moratoriums on particularly dangerous tools and commonsense AI regulation to protect the public.
EPIC and a coalition of privacy and consumer rights group today sent a letter to Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Crapo of the Senate Finance Committee regarding a proposal under consideration in the budget reconciliation bill to expand the mandatory reporting regime for private financial information in the United States. The proposal would require peer-to-peer payment apps and other similar services such as Square Cash and Venmo to collect Taxpayer Identification Numbers (“TINs”) for virtually all payee accounts in order to comply with new reporting obligations. Because most individuals do not hold a separate TIN from their Social Security Number, unlike businesses, this means that these private entities will be collecting SSNs of millions of Americans. The groups urged the Senators to reject the Treasury Department’s proposal and instead explore ways to improve tax compliance that do not put Americans’ SSNs at risk. "At minimum, the expanded reporting requirement should be scaled back to apply only to business accounts or individual accounts with a high de minimus threshold, adjusted for inflation over time," the groups said. "Peer to Peer payment apps and other similar services that currently do not collect TINs should not be required to do so under the new reporting requirements."
