The Privacy Act of 1974 (, ), a
United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...
, establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of
personally identifiable 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. The Privacy Act requires that agencies give the public notice of their systems of records by publication in the
Federal Register
The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on feder ...
. The Privacy Act prohibits the disclosure of information from a system of records absent of the written consent of the subject 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. Additionally, with people granted the right to review what was documented with their name, they are also able to find out if the "records have been disclosed" and are also given the right to make corrections.
Provisions of the Privacy Act
Conditions of disclosure
The Privacy Act states in part:
:No agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains...
[Privacy Act of 1974](_blank)
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There are specific exceptions to the Act that allow the use of personal records. Examples of these exceptions are:
* For statistical purposes by the Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of t ...
* For routine uses within a U.S. government agency
* For archival purposes "as a record which has sufficient historical or other value to warrant its continued preservation by the United States Government"
* For law enforcement purposes
* For congressional investigations
* Other administrative purposes
The Privacy Act mandates that each United States Government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
agency have in place an administrative and physical security system to prevent the unauthorized release of personal records.
To protect the privacy and liberty rights of individuals, federal agencies must state "the authority (whether granted by statute, or by Executive order of the President) which authorizes the solicitation of the information and whether disclosure of such information is mandatory or voluntary" when requesting information. () This notice is common on almost all federal government forms which seek to gather information from individuals, many of which seek personal and confidential details.
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
Subsection "U" requires that each agency have a Data Integrity Board. Each agency's Data Integrity Board is supposed to make an annual report to OMB, available to the public, that includes all complaints that the Act was violated, such as use of records for unauthorized reasons or the holding of First Amendment Records and report on —…"(v) any violations of matching agreements that have been alleged or identified and any corrective action taken". Former Attorney General Dick Thornburg appointed a Data Integrity Board but since then, the USDOJ has not published any Privacy Act reports.
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act
The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, P.L.
100–503, amended the Privacy Act of 1974 by adding certain protections for the subjects of Privacy Act records whose records are used in automated matching programs. These protections have been mandated to ensure:
* procedural uniformity in carrying out matching programs;
* due process for subjects in order to protect their rights, and
* oversight of matching programs through the establishment of Data Integrity Boards at each agency engaging in matching to monitor the agency's matching activity.
The Computer Matching Act is codified as part of the Privacy Act.
Access to records
The Privacy Act also states:
:Each agency that maintains a system of records shall—
# Upon request by any individual ... permit him ... to review the record and have a copy made of all or any portion thereof in a form comprehensible to him ...
# Permit the individual to request amendment of a record pertaining to him ...
Issues of scope
The Privacy Act does apply to the records of every "individual," defined as "a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence" but the Privacy Act only applies to records held by an "agency". Therefore, the records held by courts, executive components, or non-agency government entities are not subject to the provisions in the Privacy Act and there is no right to these records.
On January 25, 2017, President Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
signed an executive order that eliminates Privacy Act protections for foreigners. Section 14 of Trump's "Enhancing Public Safety" executive order directs federal agencies to "ensure that their privacy policies exclude persons who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents from the protections of the Privacy Act regarding personally identifiable information" to the extent consistent with applicable law.
Exemptions
Following the controversial Passenger Name Record
A passenger name record (PNR) is a record in the database of a computer reservation system (CRS) that contains the itinerary for a passenger or a group of passengers travelling together. The concept of a PNR was first introduced by airlines that n ...
(PNR) agreement signed with the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) in 2007, the Bush administration provided an exemption for the Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
and the Arrival and Departure Information System
Arrival(s) or The Arrival(s) may refer to:
Film
* ''The Arrival'' (1991 film), an American science fiction horror film
* ''The Arrival'' (1996 film), an American-Mexican science fiction horror film
* ''Arrival'' (film), a 2016 American science ...
(ADIS) from the U.S. Privacy Act.Statewatch Statewatch is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 that monitors civil liberties and other issues in the European Union and encourages investigative reporting and research.
The organization has three free databases: a large database of all its ...
US changes the privacy rules to exemption access to personal data
September 2007 ADIS is intended to authorize people to travel only after PNR and API (Advance Passenger Information Advance Passenger Information System or APIS is an electronic data interchange system established by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP),
APIS governs the provision of a limited number of data elements (identification details from the p ...
) data has been checked and cleared through a US agency watchlist.[ The ]Automated Targeting System The Automated Targeting System or ATS is a United States Department of Homeland Security computerized system that, for every person who crosses U.S. borders, scrutinizes a large volume of data related to that person (see below), and then automatical ...
is also to be exempted.[ The Privacy Act does not protect non-US persons, which is problematic for the exchange of ]Passenger Name Record
A passenger name record (PNR) is a record in the database of a computer reservation system (CRS) that contains the itinerary for a passenger or a group of passengers travelling together. The concept of a PNR was first introduced by airlines that n ...
information between the US and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
See also
* Data privacy
Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data pr ...
* Digital identity
A digital identity is information used by computer systems to represent an external agent – a person, organization, application, or device. Digital identities allow access to services provided with computers to be automated and make it possibl ...
* Privacy
Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively.
The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...
* Civil liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
* Information privacy law
Information privacy, data privacy or data protection laws provide a legal framework on how to obtain, use and store data of natural persons. The various laws around the world describe the rights of natural persons to control who is using its dat ...
* Federal Records Act
The Federal Records Act of 1950 is a United States federal law that was enacted in 1950. It provides the legal framework for federal records management, including record creation, maintenance, and disposition.Richard J. Cox, ''Closing an Era: Histo ...
* Data Act (Sweden)
The Data Act ( sv, Datalagen) is the world's first national data protection law and was enacted in Sweden on 11 May 1973. It went into effect on 1 July 1974 and required licenses by the Swedish Data Protection Authority for information systems ha ...
* Bundesdatenschutzgesetz
References
Sources
This article uses material from the public domain source:
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External links
Privacy Act of 1974
(5 USC Sec. 552a)
Privacy Office at the Department of Homeland Security
OMB Guidance for Implementing the Privacy Provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002
DOD CIO re Privacy Impact Assessments
{{authority control
1974 in American law
93rd United States Congress
Data laws of the Americas
Privacy law in the United States
United States federal government administration legislation
United States federal privacy legislation