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Privacy Act of 1974

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ThePrivacy Act of 1974 or simplyPrivacy Act is a federal law passed in 1974 regulating the collection and use of personal information by federal executive agencies. It was signed into law by PresidentGerald Ford at the end of 1974 following the Watergate scandal and growing concerns over the government's use of computers to collect and store the personal information of American citizens.[1][2]

Background

The Privacy Act of 1974 was passed by Congress and signed into law by PresidentGerald Ford in 1974. It took effect on September 27, 1975. According to a 2010 overview of the act produced by theU.S. Department of Justice, "In 1974, Congress was concerned with curbing the illegal surveillance and investigation of individuals by federal agencies that had been exposed during the Watergate scandal; it was also concerned with potential abuses presented by the government’s increasing use of computers to store and retrieve personal data by means of a universal identifier — such as an individual’s social security number."[2]

Legislative history

A 2015 overview produced by theU.S. Department of Justice described the legislative history of the Privacy Act as follows:[1]

“The Act was passed in great haste during the final week of the Ninety-Third Congress. No conference committee was convened to reconcile differences in the bills passed by the House and Senate. Instead, staffs of the respective committees – led by Senators Ervin and Percy, and Representatives Moorhead and Erlenborn – prepared a final version of the bill that was ultimately enacted.[3]”
—U.S. Department of Justice, "Overview of the Privacy Act of 1974" (2015)[1]

Provisions

According to a summary of the Privacy Act from the website of the U.S. Department of Justice, the act regulates the collection and utilization of personal information by federal executive agencies:[4]

“The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, establishes a code of fair information practices that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual.[4][3]”


According to the same source, the act requires agencies to publish public notices about their records systems in theFederal Register. It also provides for individuals to seek access and amendendment to their records, and, except in certain exempt cases, prohibits the disclosure of personal information without an individual's consent:[4]

“The Privacy Act requires that agencies give the public notice of their systems of records by publication in theFederal Register. ... The Privacy Act prohibits the disclosure of a record about an individual from a system of records absent the written consent of the individual, unless the disclosure is pursuant to one of twelve statutory exceptions. The Act also provides individuals with a means by which to seek access to and amendment of their records, and sets forth various agency record-keeping requirements.[4][3]”

Exemptions

According to theU.S. Department of Justice, the Privacy Act provides exemptions from its protections for the following agencies and uses of information:[2]

“
  • theCensus Bureau,
  • the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
  • routine uses (referring to external sharing of information outside the agency)
  • archival purposes if the record has sufficient historical value,
  • law enforcement purposes,
  • congressional investigations, and
  • other administrative purposes.[3]
”
—5 U.S.C. § 552a(b)[2]

Amending statutes

Below is a list of subsequent laws that amended provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974:[2]

  • Computer Matching and Privacy Act (1988)
  • Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Amendments (1990)

See also

External links

Footnotes

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