Privacy Act of 1974 report

This report displays Privacy Act of 1974 issues found on your site. Many web application vulnerabilities might lead to security breaches of personal information, directly or indirectly, and might be considered as violations of the regulation.

Why it matters

This Act is an omnibus "code of fair information practices" that attempts to regulate the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personal information by U.S. federal executive branch agencies.

The Privacy Act gives American citizens and lawfully admitted aliens for permanent residency a greater say in the way records about them are kept and eliminates needless intrusions on personal privacy through the keeping of extraneous records. The Act assures individuals whose information is collected that:

  • there are no secret Federal government personal recordkeeping systems.
  • Federal personal information files are limited to those that are clearly necessary.
  • they will have an opportunity to see what information about them is kept and to challenge its accuracy.
  • personal information collected for one purpose not be used for another purpose without their consent.
  • if disclosures are made, they will find out to whom they were made, for what purpose and on what date.