Another privacy issue has surfaced along with the U.S. government’s initiative to curb illegal immigration and employment. A proposed bill is under fire because it forces employers to have new employees go through the E-Verify system. Expectedly, privacy concerns have been aired by different privacy groups. The ACLU, EFF, and other civil liberties organizations, labor and privacy groups are against the approval of the Legal Workforce Act of 2011.
E-Verify is an employment eligibility verification system that is internet-based. Proponents say that using the system will screen all those who seek employment in the U.S. It will not be difficult for the government to find illegal immigrants. Employers will be assured that they hire only those who are legally qualified to get jobs in the U.S.
Refusal to use E-Verify will mean penalties of up to $25,000 and imprisonment of at least one year for employers. If approved, the law will oblige employers to compare their employees’ records in the DHS and SSA databases with the information that these employees supply upon hiring. Aside from this, the Social Security numbers provided by the new hires will be compared with those on record. In addition, employers will be required to take the fingerprints of employees as a pilot biometric authentication program.
Those who push for privacy rights consider this as a threat to employees’ privacy. They argue that the authentication system would generate a database that holds highly sensitive data. It would be difficult to manage and protect such a huge amount of information. Undoubtedly, this data will be open to abuse and misuse by dishonest individuals or groups. Identity theft is most probable given the size, openness and accessibility of this database. Critics have said that even intelligence and law enforcement agencies might use this database for other purposes.
The civil rights and privacy groups coalition says that the risk to individual privacy is obvious. According to them, the harm that it could cause to people outweighs its benefits. Due to the various criticisms that caught the government’s attention, there is a plan to improve the E-Verify system. It is hoped that the improvements would center on reducing, if not eliminating, the risks to individual privacy.
Image courtesy of:
No comments:
Post a Comment