Privacy Czar Has Private Lunch, Not Privacy Lunch

Robert C. Cresanti, the Commerce Department's new privacy chief, had time for 25 dinners and meetings with business groups from mid-July and early September, but he opted to have lunch instead of attending a pre-scheduled meeting with a privacy group on September 8, according to documents acquired by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

According to EPIC's Alert:

Mr. Cresanti attended more than 25 meetings with business lobbyists and corporate representatives across the country, including business lunches and dinners with DaimlerChrysler, Pitney Bowes and the Council on Competitiveness, whose members include executives from Wal-Mart and IBM. He also attended day-long business meetings in Detroit, Michigan; Elyria, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois.

However, the top privacy official at the Commerce Department did not attend one pre-scheduled meeting with privacy advocates in Washington, DC. [...]

Cresanti had agreed to speak with the Privacy Coalition on September 8 at 1:15 p.m., after another meeting at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. But his appointment at NIST, scheduled to end at noon, was completed earlier than anticipated and he went back to his office. When Cresanti did not arrive at the privacy meeting, the coalition was informed that he had made an impromptu decision to have lunch instead. Cresanti has not rescheduled.

Full Freedom of Information Act documents here.

Photo of a man that is not Cresanti, but likes lunch just as much by Chris Harrison