Team for Research in
Ubiquitous Secure Technology

Privacy Decision Making in Administrative Agencies
Kenneth A. Bamberger, Deirdre Mulligan

Citation
Kenneth A. Bamberger, Deirdre Mulligan. "Privacy Decision Making in Administrative Agencies". Chicago Law Review, 75(1):75, January 2008.

Abstract
Administrative agencies increasingly rely on technology to promote the substantive goals they are charged to pursue. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has prioritized digitized personal health data as a means for improving patient safety and reducing bureaucratic costs. The Department of Justice hosts electronic databases that pool information between agencies to facilitate national law enforcement in ways previously unimaginable. The Departments of Defense and Education mine digital information to effect goals as diverse as human resources management; service improvement; fraud, waste, and abuse control; and detection of terrorist activity.

The use of technology to achieve the principal purposes set forth in agency enabling statutes—health, security or education, for example—has significant consequences for other public goals. Specifically, the digital collection of personally identifiable information renders that data subject to the immense search and aggregation power of technology systems, increases the capacity for repurposing and reuse, and provides increasingly attractive targets to hackers bent on misuse, raising serious concerns about a surveillance capacity that can flood personal privacy and put personal security at risk.

The digitization of administration, then, raises the question how to ensure that decisions about the use of technology in public management reflect not only the governance goals with which particular administrators are charged specifically, but also universal concerns of privacy untethered to direct agency mandates.

Electronic downloads

Citation formats  
  • HTML
    Kenneth A. Bamberger, Deirdre Mulligan. <a
    href="http://www.truststc.org/pubs/258.html"
    >Privacy Decision Making in Administrative
    Agencies</a>, <i>Chicago Law Review</i>,
    75(1):75, January 2008.
  • Plain text
    Kenneth A. Bamberger, Deirdre Mulligan. "Privacy
    Decision Making in Administrative Agencies".
    <i>Chicago Law Review</i>, 75(1):75, January
    2008.
  • BibTeX
    @article{BambergerMulligan08_PrivacyDecisionMakingInAdministrativeAgencies,
        author = {Kenneth A. Bamberger and Deirdre Mulligan},
        title = {Privacy Decision Making in Administrative Agencies},
        journal = {Chicago Law Review},
        volume = {75},
        number = {1},
        pages = {75},
        month = {January},
        year = {2008},
        abstract = {Administrative agencies increasingly rely on
                  technology to promote the substantive goals they
                  are charged to pursue. The U.S. Department of
                  Health and Human Services has prioritized
                  digitized personal health data as a means for
                  improving patient safety and reducing bureaucratic
                  costs. The Department of Justice hosts electronic
                  databases that pool information between agencies
                  to facilitate national law enforcement in ways
                  previously unimaginable. The Departments of
                  Defense and Education mine digital information to
                  effect goals as diverse as human resources
                  management; service improvement; fraud, waste, and
                  abuse control; and detection of terrorist
                  activity. <p>The use of technology to achieve the
                  principal purposes set forth in agency enabling
                  statutes—health, security or education, for
                  example—has significant consequences for other
                  public goals. Specifically, the digital collection
                  of personally identifiable information renders
                  that data subject to the immense search and
                  aggregation power of technology systems, increases
                  the capacity for repurposing and reuse, and
                  provides increasingly attractive targets to
                  hackers bent on misuse, raising serious concerns
                  about a surveillance capacity that can flood
                  personal privacy and put personal security at
                  risk. <p>The digitization of administration, then,
                  raises the question how to ensure that decisions
                  about the use of technology in public management
                  reflect not only the governance goals with which
                  particular administrators are charged
                  specifically, but also universal concerns of
                  privacy untethered to direct agency mandates.},
        URL = {http://www.truststc.org/pubs/258.html}
    }
    

Posted by Christopher Brooks on 9 Jul 2007.
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