More Data Collection

Never underestimate this government's insatiable desire for information on citizens. There is no agency or department that hasn't been told to collect data in whatever way possible, including making the access to such information a condition of employment. Sometimes the policy makes sense (as when an individual is applying for a sensitive job with the Defense Department or the Department of Homeland Security) and sometimes it doesn't (as when applying for a job with the Education Department). Today's NY Times has an article on what the Education Department requires even when the job applicant will not be working in a federal building and will not have access to specific information.

As a condition of his work for the federal government, Andrew A. Zucker was willing to be fingerprinted and provide an employment history. But then he was asked to let federal investigators examine his financial and medical records, and interview his doctors.

Dr. Zucker was not tracking terrorists or even emptying the trash at the Pentagon. He was studying how to best teach science to middle school students. He was stunned at the breadth of the request for information.

“To me, personally, it’s shocking,” said Dr. Zucker, who worked for a contractor doing research for the Education Department. He withdrew from the job.

For about a year, contractors say, the department has been requiring employees of the thousands of contractors it hires — many of them academic researchers like Dr. Zucker — to go through a level of security screening usually reserved for those working with very sensitive information. [Emphasis added]

Education Department officials offered the standard excuse: workers have potential access to the names and social security numbers of millions of students. Yet when challenged on the need for such information as medical or financial records from job applicants, the Department often backed down:

Many employees asked for information by the Education Department were academics like Dr. Zucker. In some instances, the agency has backed down when its policy was challenged. When Dr. Zucker protested, he said the department excused him from providing access to his medical and financial records.

Such a reversal can only mean that the Department knows its policy is out of line and fears any formal challenge in the courts.

Congress needs to examine such free-wheeling data collection by the federal government and needs to put a stop to it. Now.

Outrageous!