New standard proposed for information sharing

The federal government should develop an "authorized use" standard to improve information-sharing against terrorism, according to a new report from the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age.

The 100-page report, released today, is the third from the task force addressing how to share information for national-security purposes while also protecting privacy and civil liberties.

Under the proposed authorized use standard, access would be granted based on how the information will be used, rather than on nationality or location of collection.

Furthermore, the report recommends a risk management approach to revise standards for classifying information.

"Two years since the publication of its last report, and nearly five years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Task Force finds that while more information is being shared, the government still has not taken many key steps to meet the challenges of sharing information to prevent terrorism while protecting civil liberties," the task force said in a press release.