Rep. Trahan Publishes Blueprint for Updating the Privacy Act, Reflecting OTI’s Recommendations

Late last week, Representative Lori Trahan (MA-03) published Privacy, Trust, and Effective Government: A Bipartisan Blueprint for Modernizing the Privacy Act, a report that outlines ten ways to strengthen the Privacy Act of 1974. This blueprint comes after New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) submitted comments to Trahan that recommend modernizing the Privacy Act by integrating privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) into federal data systems and reinforcing core privacy protections.

The blueprint cites OTI’s report How to Protect Government Data with Privacy-Enhancing Technology and calls for adopting privacy-enhancing technologies and techniques. It also calls for right-sizing requirements through robust data minimization—a practice OTI has consistently promoted.