Senators pledge scrutiny of federal data mining
WASHINGTON--Senate Democrats said on Wednesday they will monitor the possible privacy threats lurking in data-mining programs created by the Bush administration, but avoided criticizing the president directly.
By devoting the first Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of the new year to the topic, incoming Chairman Patrick Leahy said he wanted to put the Bush administration on notice: Congress will no longer stand idle while the executive branch continues an "unchecked explosion" in computerized sifting of huge volumes of sensitive personal information, he said. But Leahy and his colleagues said they were interested in collecting information on data mining, not banning the practice.
"Congress is overdue in taking stock of the proliferation of these databases that increasingly are collecting more information about each and every American," the veteran senator from Vermont said. Leahy added that he plans a series of hearings on privacy-related issues during the upcoming congressional session.
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