OTI and Over 40 Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Consumer Groups Call on Congress to Address Data-Driven Discrimination

Today, OTI and 42 other civil society organizations told Congress it must protect civil rights, equity, and equal opportunity in the digital ecosystem, as we advocated in the Public Interest Privacy Legislation Principles last November. Congress must address the data security and privacy abuses that disproportionately harm marginalized communities, such as deceptive voter suppression and housing and employment discrimination in online advertising.

Civil rights protections have existed in brick-and-mortar commerce for decades. They should also apply to the internet economy. Internet companies should not be permitted to use consumer data to discriminate against protected classes. Also, companies should be required to be transparent about their collection and use of consumer data in automated decision-making, and to anticipate and protect against discriminatory uses and disparate impacts of data.

The letter urges lawmakers to ensure that any new privacy legislation be consistent with the 2014 Civil Rights Principles for the Era of Big Data, which are just as applicable in today’s online ecosystem. The principles are the following:

• Stop high-tech profiling;
• Ensure fairness in automated decisions;
• Preserve constitutional principles;
• Enhance individual control of personal information; and
• Protect people from inaccurate data.

Individuals and the government must be empowered to enforce these fundamental principles of civil rights through agency rulemaking authority, strong enforcement, and the availability of effective legal remedies. We look forward to working with policymakers to protect everyone’s rights with the goal of creating and sustaining a more just and equitable society.

Read the full letter here.

The following quote can be attributed to Eric Null, Senior Policy Counsel at New America’s Open Technology Institute:

“Commercial data practices harm marginalized communities with impunity, as this letter explains. Though, after months of hearings and proposed legislation in Congress, we've heard almost nothing about the civil rights concerns tied to boundless data collection and use. These concerns aren't new—the letter borrows from principles released in 2014, yet little has been done since then. Privacy legislation must address these important civil rights issues or Congress will have failed."