March 16, 2011 9:30AM 

# Obama Administration to Take a Stand on Privacy, But it Ain’t Fixing the Strip-Search Machine Morass 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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At least [one report](http://www.hldataprotection.com/2011/03/articles/news-events/breaking-news-obama-administration-to-support-baseline-privacy-law/) has it that a Commerce Department official will announce the Obama administration’s support for “baseline privacy legislation” at a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee [hearing](http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings&ContentRecord_id=e018f33b-d047-4fba-b727-5513c66a6887&ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5-407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&Group_id=b06c39af-e033-4cba-9221-de668ca1978a).

You mean, like, the [Fourth Amendment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution)? If only it were so.

The action is in the House Government Reform Committee, which is [holding a hearing](http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1199%3A3-16-11-qtsa-oversight-part-i-whole-body-imagingq&catid=17&Itemid=25) on the Transportation Security Administration’s strip-search machines. What’s the administration’s “baseline privacy policy” on that?

I’ve already written two posts in the last year ([1](https://www.cato.org/physician-heal-thyself-2/), [2](https://www.cato.org/physician-heal-thyself-3/)) titled “Physician, Heal Thyself”…

##### Related Tags 

[Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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