The Privacy Act of 1974 was developed in order to established a standardized set of principles and guidelines regarding the collection and disclosure of private data on individuals within the United States. The Privacy Act of 1974 introduced guidelines that inform individuals records that store their information and their rights in terms of being able to access this data. Additionally The Privacy Act of 1974 introduced guidelines on the proper dissemination of these records and what exceptions exist regarding disclosure to third parties. (U.S. Department of Justice).
The Privacy Act of 1974 and Data Security
In order to govern the country effectively it is essential that various types of records must be maintained on individuals. This includes education, criminal, medical and other types of records that are stored and maintained by various organizations. It is essential that this information remain private as it could potentially be manipulated by criminals to conduct illegal acts such as identity theft. There must be some set of standards and guidelines that determine how this data should be stored and when it may be disseminated. The Privacy Act of 1974 covers this in detail primarily through the policy known as “no disclosure without consent”. This rule requires verifiable consent of an individual in order to disclose their information to a third party. There are also 12 exceptions to this rule which include various instances where consent is not needed for example when a law enforcement agency is requesting the data. (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1974).