[Chapter-delegates] US exclusion of privacy protection

[Richard Hill]

US President Trump has published  an Executive Order titled Enhancing Public
Safety in the Interior of the United States.

 

See: 

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/25/presidential-executiv
e-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united

 

Its section 14 reads:

 

" Privacy Act.  Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable
law, ensure that their privacy policies exclude persons who are not United
States citizens or lawful permanent residents from the protections of the
Privacy Act regarding personally identifiable information."


Taken literally, this means that the protections of the Privacy Act do not
apply to a person who is legitimately travelling in the USA, for example for
a business meeting.

 

And it means that the protections do not apply to people who are not US
citizens and who don't reside in the  USA.  So it means that any data
regarding such persons that may wind up in the USA would not be protected.

 

Such an approach to privacy does not appear to me to be likely to increase
trust in the Internet and, in my view, constitutes a violation of the human
right to privacy, even if the scope of the Privacy Act, and hence of the
exclusion, is rather limited since the Privacy Act applies only to US
Federal agencies, see:

 

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Act_of_1974 

 

But perhaps I misunderstand the situation and/or the significance of the
Executive Order and/or of the Privacy Act.

 

Best,

Richard

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