Panel speakers then discussed how data sharing has benefited their programs, how technology offers new data- sharing possibilities, the privacy and security concerns that arise in a data- sharing environment, and how data sharing can be advanced among benefit and loan programs governmentwide. Finally, many states have begun to participate in multistate matches, known as Public Assistance Report Information System (PARIS) matches, to identify welfare recipients who receive simultaneous benefits in more than one state. Three of the data-sharing applications discussed involve computer applications that make direct communication among computer systems possible. If agencies shared their data in this manner, individuals applying for or receiving benefits from multiple agencies could provide much of the information that these agencies needed only one time, to one agency. Although symposium speakers and audience participants who discussed privacy issues agreed that it is important to protect this right, they disagreed about the extent to which data sharing threatens it. One idea proposed by Mr. Stack and others would be to allow agencies to use some of the program dollars saved through data-sharing efforts to expand such efforts and to pursue cases in which data exchanges have indicated possible overpayments.
What GAO Found

Data sharing among federal agencies that run federal benefit and loan programs is important for determining the eligibility of applicants and beneficiaries. A GAO symposium on data sharing highlighted various issues facing federal agencies in their efforts to prevent abuse of federal programs. Symposium speakers focused on the number of program dollars saved by interagency data exchanges. Agencies using computer matching have detected undisclosed income and welfare recipients who receive benefits from more than one state. Improved technologies offer agencies the opportunity to expand their data sharing efforts. Such technologies include computer systems that can communicate directly with other systems and computer networks that can obtain information directly from financial institutions. Symposium speakers agreed that applicants' privacy should be protected when personal information is shared among agencies, but they disagreed about the extent to which data sharing threatens it. Privacy laws and security-related technology provide individuals with some protection against the possible misuse of personal information, but symposium participants differed on whether these protections are adequate.