Legislation, Lobbying & Legal Resources

“The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. § 552a) (Privacy Act) governs Federal agencies collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals. This information is maintained by Federal agencies in a systems of records. A system of records is an agency record-keeping system which contains information that can be retrieved by the name of the individual or by some other personal identifier. 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. Read the full Privacy Act on the link below.