IFPTE Tells Congress That Privacy Improvements Should Focus On Workers and Users
IFPTE is proud to join labor organizations, civil society groups, and members of the public in responding to Representative Lori Trahan's (D-MA) request for information (RFI) to reform the Privacy Act of 1974.
IFPTE's comments were driven by rank-and-file member expertise. Throughout the response to Rep. Trahan’s RFI , IFPTE stressed the importance of federal employees and the public working together to develop federal IT systems that protect the public's privacy, effectively deliver public services, and balance against other public-interest objectives like protecting taxpayer dollars from fraud, waste, and abuse.
Federal employees, including IFPTE members, have formed the front line of defense against Elon Musk and DOGE's blatant privacy violations and have the expertise necessary to effectively implement meaningful privacy protections in federal systems. IFPTE maintains that Privacy Act reform should empower federal employees, invest in internal technical capacity, and enable meaningful and continuous co-development with the system's users and individuals whose information is maintained by federal agencies. Given the Trump Administration's attacks on independent oversight, the comments also stressed the need for Congress to invest in active privacy oversight capacity from Legislative Branch agencies like GAO.