White House Finds No Privacy Violations

A White House board tasked to oversee possible infringements on privacy and civil liberties from government information systems and programs designed to fight terrorism has ruled that many programs have not compromised Americans' privacy, according to a report the board released yesterday and a brief posted by Wired.com.

In its first annual report to Congress, the Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board ruled that controversial programs such as government watchlists and the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of Americans' phone calls did not impose on privacy or civil liberties, Wired reports.

Next year, the board, the members of which were chosen by the White House, plans to investigate the Automated Targeting System (also here), which will give international travelers a threat level rating and data mining efforts by the federal government.