Sen. Wyden urges policy panel to recommend security measure to protect personal sensitive information

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) recently called for a federal panel to recommend enhanced data security measures, such as the use of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), to protect sensitive personal information in a forthcoming report to Congress on evidence-based policymaking.

Wyden, in a letter directed to the Commission of Evidence-Based Policymaking, called for the 15-member panel to recommended multiple ways the government can securely analyze data to improve public policy.

“As the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking works to finalize its conclusions and recommendations to Congress, I write to remind the commission that new government databases, even if they are created for well-intended purposes, can both threaten the liberty of Americans and create an irresistible target for criminal hackers and foreign governments,” Wyden said.

The senator urged the commission to recommend PETs, such as multi-party computation (MPC) and differential privacy, for use by agencies and organizations that seek to draw public policy-related insights from the private data of Americans.

“Secure MPC practices allow two or more parties to perform computation simultaneously with merged encrypted data, thereby protecting each initial data set,” Wyden said.

Those technologies, the senator said, were being utilized in other countries and the private sector, which enables researchers to gain useful insights without creating new databases the could be lost, stolen or seized by authorities.

The commission is set to release its report in the coming weeks.