Privacy Working Group

The Privacy Working Group

The Privacy Working Group seeks to provide a forum for robust discussion among leading experts and thought leaders on current privacy policy and online safety issues. The Privacy Working Group meets monthly and is hosted by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and Citizens Against Government Waste. The Privacy Working Group brings together an influential team of policy experts to share and discuss new research, legislation, best practices, trends and emerging issues in the security and privacy debate.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW)

CAGW is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters nationwide. CAGW’s mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government. Founded in 1984 by the late industrialist J. Peter Grace and syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, CAGW is the legacy of the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, also known as the Grace Commission.

In 1982, President Reagan directed the Grace Commission to “work like tireless bloodhounds to root out government inefficiency and waste of tax dollars.” For two years, 161 corporate executives and community leaders led an army of 2,000 volunteers on a waste hunt through the federal government. The search was funded entirely by voluntary contributions of $76 million from the private sector; it cost taxpayers nothing. The Grace Commission made 2,478 recommendations which, if implemented, would save $424.4 billion over three years, an average of $141.5 billion a year all without eliminating essential services.

The 47 volumes and 21,000 pages of the Grace Commission Report constituted a vision of an efficient, well-managed government that is accountable to the taxpayers. CAGW has worked to make that vision a reality and, in a little over two decades, has helped save taxpayers $1.04 trillion through the implementation of Grace Commission findings and other recommendations.

Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole has stated, “CAGW researches and identifies the most blatant waste in government and shows how it can be eliminated. CAGW has a long and successful record of winning major cuts in wasteful spending without sacrificing America’s defenses.”

House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) went even further: “CAGW has fought side-by-side with us for welfare reform and massive cuts in wasteful spending to shrink the size of government and the deficit.” Rep. Cox called CAGW “the premier waste-fighting organization in America.”

CAGW’s membership has grown from 5,000 members in February 1988 to more than one million members and supporters today. This phenomenal growth is the result of taxpayers’ increasing frustration with the squandering of their hard-earned money in the nation’s capital.

CAGW is nationally recognized as the source of information on government waste. CAGW representatives appear frequently on television, radio talk shows, and in print.

CAGW produces numerous publications highlighting wasteful government spending. Government Waste Watch is the group’s quarterly newspaper, which is distributed to members of CAGW, Congress, and members of the media nationwide. The annual Congressional Pig Book Summary is CAGW’s famous exposé of the most glaring and irresponsible pork-barrel projects in the 13 annual appropriations bills and their sponsors.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)

ITIF is a non-partisan research and educational institute – a think tank – whose mission is to formulate and promote public policies to advance technological innovation and productivity internationally, in Washington, and in the states. Recognizing the vital role of technology in ensuring American prosperity, ITIF focuses on innovation, productivity, and digital economy issues.

Technological innovation, particularly in information technology, is at the heart of America’s growing economic prosperity. Crafting effective policies that boost innovation and encourage the widespread “digitization” of the economy is critical to ensuring robust economic growth and an improved standard of living. However, as in any new and changing situation, policymakers have varied awareness of what is needed and what will work. In some cases, legislators have responded to new and complex technology policy issues with solutions more suited for the old economy. And as the innovation economy has become increasingly important, opposition to it from special interests has grown. Finally, the excitement that the press, pundits and decision makers showed toward the information technology (IT) revolution in the 1990s has all too often been replaced with an attitude of “IT doesn’t matter.” It’s time to set the record straight that IT is still the key driver of productivity and innovation.

As a result, the mission of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is to help policy makers at the federal and state levels to better understand the nature of the new innovation economy and the types of public policies needed to drive innovation, productivity and broad-based prosperity for all Americans.

ITIF publishes policy reports, holds forums and policy debates, advises elected officials and their staff, and is an active resource for the media. It develops new and creative policy proposals to advance innovation, analyzes existing policy issues through the lens of advancing innovation and productivity, and opposes policies that hinder digital transformation and innovation.

Located in Washington, DC, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2006.