Special Interests Groups and Political Participation Paper

Review of Special Interest Groups and Political Participation There are many Special Interest Groups involved in the influence of public policy. The view about the influence these Special Interest Groups create is that their attempts are biased to their special interest and the interests of their clients. Unfortunately, the influence of the most well funded interest groups overshadows even the most well intentioned under funded interest groups. This paper will focus on one special interest group that certainly is biased to the civil liberties of the public in general, and does not have the greatest of funds as backing but does have the ingenuity to get their voice heard. “The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is a public interest research center in Washington, D.C. “ (EPIC 2003 annual report). The main aspects that will be reviewed are the special interest that EPIC represents, how EPIC encourages participation in the democratic process, how EPIC educates the public and the government on the issues at hand, and the impact that EPIC has had on public policy. Finally, a look at the financial impact to the general public if any at all. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) was ‘…established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, freedom of expression and constitutional values in the information age.” (EPIC 2003 annual report). EPIC represents the civil liberties of electronic and internet users, individuals whose personal and “Automated health care records” (EPIC 2003 annual report) that are stored and transmitted electronically, and all persons that are affected by the vast electronic information society. The electronic and internet resources that are represented include “data protection, telephone tapping, genetic databases, ID systems and freedom of information laws.” (EPIC 2003 annual report). The primary demographic that EPIC targets are users of the internet and

References: EPIC annual Report 2003-2004 (2004), Retrieved April 17, 2005, from http://www.epic.org/epic/annual_reports/2003.pdf