Coalition Urges End to Commercial Database for Recruiting

CPSR joined the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and
more than 100 other local, state, and national organizations today urged
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to end to the "Joint Advertising
and Market Research Studies" Recruiting Database.

The groups cited the broad exemptions to federal privacy laws that would
allow the Defense Department to disclose personal information to others
without an individual's consent or knowledge. The proposed uses include
disclosures to law-enforcement; state and local tax authorities;
employment queries from other agencies; and disclosure of records to
foreign authorities.

The database would include name, date of birth, gender, address,
telephone, e-mail address, Social Security Number, ethnicity, high
school, education level, college, intended field of study for more than 30
million Americans who are 16-25 years old. This system of records would
go so far as to record mother's attitudes about military recruitment.

The letter to the Secretary of Defense concluded that "because of the
potential for abuse and the threat to the personal privacy rights of a
generation of American youth," the Department of Defense should
immediately end the program.

The organizations signing the letter also included the American Civil
Liberties Union, the American Friends Service Committee, the Bill of
Rights Defense Committee, LeaveMyChildAlone.org, the Liberty
Coalition, Rock the Vote, and the Rutherford Institute.

Coalition Letter Opposing Defense Dept. Database

Background on DOD Recruiting Database