EPIC: Despite Attempts at Fixes, USDA's Demand for SNAP Data Remains Illegal
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has tried to justify collecting personal data of millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, but its efforts have fallen short, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said in comments submitted Wednesday to the department.
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The data collecting remains illegal under federal law, EPIC reiterated as it renewed its motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) Thursday, aiming to block the USDA and the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) from receiving SNAP information from the states. The renewed TRO motion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The USDA suspended its data demand after a lawsuit from EPIC and others. It published a System of Records Notice (SORN) June 23 in an attempt to resolve the legal issues and resume the data collection. “But the proposed SORN is fatally deficient and has significant errors and omissions,” EPIC said in a release Thursday.
“USDA has already been forced to suspend this data demand once before, owing to the agency’s failure to disclose key information required by the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980,” EPIC said in its comments. The SORN proposes a "system that would house the sensitive personal data of every SNAP recipient and applicant in the country," EPIC added.
“Several of the so-called ‘routine uses’ set out in the" SORN "are not ‘compatible with the purpose for which [the SNAP data] was collected,’ and are therefore unlawful,” EPIC continued. Additionally, “both the Notice and the [National SNAP Information Database] itself appear to violate multiple other provisions of the Privacy Act.”
A coalition of stakeholders -- including SNAP recipients, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and students from the National Student Legal Defense Network, in addition to EPIC -- filed a lawsuit and TRO in case 25-01650 in May, arguing that government agencies' demand for states to submit SNAP data is illegal because numerous federal laws, including the Privacy Act or E-Government Act, provide safeguards for personal data (see 2505290019).