The current text of the Privacy Act

The DOJ Overview of the Privacy Act

edit GAO Reports

GAO-08-795, Congress Should Consider Alternatives for Strengthening Protection of Personally Identifiable Information, June 2008

GAO-07-657, Lessons Learned About Data Breach Notification, April 2007

GAO-03-304, OMB Leadership Needed to Improve Agency Compliance, June 2003

edit Testimony

Testimony of Ari Schwartz, CDT, before the Senate Judiciary Committee - Passport Files: Privacy Protection Needed For All Americans

• To adequately protect privacy in this digital age, when more information is collected and shared than ever before, Congress and the Executive Branch will need to work together to close the long‑recognized gaps in existing laws and policies. At the same time, both branches must foster the leadership and insist upon the measurement capabilities needed to ensure that existing and new laws and policies are implemented uniformly and diligently.

Testimony of Ari Schwartz, CDT, before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs - Protecting Personal Information: Is the Federal Government Doing Enough?

• Current federal laws and policies provide to those agency officials who care about privacy valuable tools to protect personal information in the hands of the federal government. Unfortunately, these laws and policies clearly have not been implemented consistently in a way that prevents indifference or wanton neglect of personal information. Moreover, even diligent officials find gaps in existing laws, especially because those laws, especially the Privacy Act of 1974, have failed to keep pace with technological change.
  
  To adequately protect privacy in this digital age, when more information is collected and shared than ever before, both Congress and the Executive Branch will need to work together to close the long‑recognized gaps in existing laws and policies. At the same time, both branches must foster the leadership and insist upon the measurement capabilities needed to ensure that existing and new laws and policies are implemented uniformly and diligently.

Testimony of Jim Dempsey, CDT, before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law and the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House Judiciary Committee - The Defense of Privacy Act and Privacy in the Hands of the Government

• Current federal laws and policies provide to those agency officials who care about privacy valuable tools to protect personal information in the hands of the federal government. Unfortunately, these laws and policies clearly have not been implemented consistently in a way that prevents indifference or wanton neglect of personal information. Moreover, even diligent officials find gaps in existing laws, especially because those laws, especially the Privacy Act of 1974, have failed to keep pace with technological change.