II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1169 

To require reports to Congress on Federal agency use of data-mining 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 6, 2005 

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. JEFFORDS, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require reports to Congress on Federal agency use of 

data-mining 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Agency Data5 Mining Reporting Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) DATA-MINING.—The term ‘‘data-mining’’ 

9 means a query or search or other analysis of 1 or 

10 more electronic databases, whereas— 
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1 (A) at least 1 of the databases was ob2 tained from or remains under the control of a 

3 non-Federal entity, or the information was ac4 quired initially by another department or agen5 cy of the Federal Government for purposes 

6 other than intelligence or law enforcement; 

7 (B) a department or agency of the Federal 

8 Government or a non-Federal entity acting on 

9 behalf of the Federal Government is conducting 

10 the query or search or other analysis to find a 

11 predictive pattern indicating terrorist or crimi12 nal activity; and 

13 (C) the search does not use a specific indi14 vidual’s personal identifiers to acquire informa15 tion concerning that individual. 

16 (2) DATABASE.—The term ‘‘database’’ does not 

17 include telephone directories, news reporting, infor18 mation publicly available via the Internet or avail19 able by any other means to any member of the pub20 lic without payment of a fee, or databases of judicial 

21 and administrative opinions. 

22 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON DATA-MINING ACTIVITIES BY FED23 ERAL AGENCIES. 

24 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT.—The head of each 

25 department or agency of the Federal Government that is 
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1 engaged in any activity to use or develop data-mining tech2 nology shall each submit a report to Congress on all such 

3 activities of the department or agency under the jurisdic4 tion of that official. The report shall be made available 

5 to the public. 

6 (b) CONTENT OF REPORT.—A report submitted 

7 under subsection (a) shall include, for each activity to use 

8 or develop data-mining technology that is required to be 

9 covered by the report, the following information: 

10 (1) A thorough description of the data-mining 

11 technology and the data that is being or will be 

12 used. 

13 (2) A thorough description of the goals and 

14 plans for the use or development of such technology 

15 and, where appropriate, the target dates for the de16 ployment of the data-mining technology. 

17 (3) An assessment of the efficacy or likely effi18 cacy of the data-mining technology in providing ac19 curate information consistent with and valuable to 

20 the stated goals and plans for the use or develop21 ment of the technology. 

22 (4) An assessment of the impact or likely im23 pact of the implementation of the data-mining tech24 nology on the privacy and civil liberties of individ25 uals. 
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1 (5) A list and analysis of the laws and regula2 tions that govern the information being or to be col3 lected, reviewed, gathered, analyzed, or used with 

4 the data-mining technology. 

5 (6) A thorough discussion of the policies, proce6 dures, and guidelines that are in place or that are 

7 to be developed and applied in the use of such tech8 nology for data-mining in order to— 

9 (A) protect the privacy and due process 

10 rights of individuals; and 

11 (B) ensure that only accurate information 

12 is collected, reviewed, gathered, analyzed, or 

13 used. 

14 (7) Any necessary classified information in an 

15 annex that shall be available to the Committee on 

16 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the 

17 Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on 

18 Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on 

19 Homeland Security, the Committee on the Judiciary, 

20 and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

21 of Representatives. 

22 (c) TIME FOR REPORT.—Each report required under 

23 subsection (a) shall be— 

24 (1) submitted not later than 90 days after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act; and 
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1 (2) updated once a year and include any new 

2 uses or development of data-mining technology. 

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