Makeup of privacy committee questioned

WASHINGTON -- Privacy advocates say a committee set up recently to advise the Homeland Security Department on privacy issues amounts to little more than a fox guarding a chicken coop.

One member works for a high-tech company that distributed software that many computer users complained contained adware. Another works for a conglomerate whose subsidiary turned over personal records of airline passengers to a government contractor.

A third works for a defense contractor from which thieves stole personal information on thousands of employees, making them vulnerable to identity theft.

Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a Mountain View, Calif., computer security company, and author of ''Beyond Fear," said he looked at the 20-member list and laughed. ''It's just plain weird," Schneier said Thursday. ''Where are all the privacy people?"

Homeland Security's chief privacy officer, Nuala O'Connor Kelly, said the committee represents a cross-section of viewpoints, including people who have criticized the department. ''We picked the best board from the people who applied," said Kelly, adding that more than 130 people applied for the committee that she announced Wednesday.

Privacy is a sensitive issue for the Homeland Security Department as it embarks on ambitious plans to look into the backgrounds of everyone who boards a plane, enters the country, or works in the transportation industry. The department has already had to retool a project to conduct instant background checks on airline passengers because of public fears about government snooping.

Privacy advocates say Homeland Security's privacy board is skewed too heavily toward corporations, including Intel Corp., Computer Associates, IBM Corp., and Oracle Corp. Some have had their own problems with information privacy and security. They include:

Samuel Wright, senior vice president of Cendant Corp. Cendant owns Galileo, a computer reservation system that turned passenger records over to a government contractor without their permission or knowledge, according to testimony last year by Transportation Security Administration chief David Stone.