Archives

Executive Order 12333- United States Intelligence Activities

Executive Order 12333 was issued in 1981 to regulate national intelligence activities. Part I of the Order outlines the goals and responsibilities of major Federal Agencies and Departments involved with national security an intelligence gathering. Part II created regulations for the collection of intelligence [...]

OMB Memoranda 06-15 and 06-16: Safeguarding Information Maintained by the U.S. Government

OMB Memoranda 06-15 and 06-16: Safeguarding Information Maintained by the U.S. Government

In 2006, the Office of Management and Budget published two memoranda back to back dealing specifically with protecting certain types of information maintained by the Federal Government. M-06-15 addresses safeguarding personally identifiable information. M-06-16 deals with the protection of sensitive agency information. Both memoranda reiterate the security requirements of previous regulations, and expand upon them to make them more effective.

OMB M-06-15: Safeguarding Personally Identifiable Information

M-06-15 served as a reminder to government agencies of their responsibilities towards protecting personally identifiable information.

Under the Privacy Act of 1974 agencies must:

Establish rules [...]

Open Government Legislation

There are a number of more specific regulations, often attached to more extensive laws, that play a role in privacy protection in the U.S. Government. The Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007, The Federal Advisory Committee Act and the Government in the Sunshine Act all protect privacy by promoting public access to records dealing with Government [...]

FISMA: The Federal Information Security Management Act

The E-Government Acts of 2002 involved a large number of new regulations to implement and control the use of electronic technologies by the U.S. Government. Title III of this Act, called the Federal Information Security Management Act required all Government agencies to develop extensive information security [...]

The Common Rule for Protection of Human Subjects

The Common Rule for the Protection of Human Subjects is part of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. It controls the use of human subjects in experimental testing. Along with protecting the physical safety and well being of subjects, the Rule also protects the privacy of individuals and their personal [...]

The E-Government Act of 2002

The E-Government Act of 2002, containing 5 separate Titles and 40 different sections, created many new regulations for the implementation and use of electronic information in the Federal [...]

Privacy and Civil Liberties Officers

The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 passed a large number of regulations to increase national security. Increasing security protection, often, unfortunately decreases privacy protection, so the act also included a number of regulations restricting the use of personally identifiable information by the Federal Government. Among these regulations is Section 803, which amended the National Security Intelligence Reform Act. This policy created new positions called privacy and civil liberties officers to oversee the protection of such rights in government agencies and [...]

Privacy Act of 1974

The Privacy Act of 1974 is a public sector law that regulates the use of personal information by the United States Government. Specifically it establishes rules, similar to the Fair Information Practice Principles that determine what information may be collected and how it may be used in order to protect the personal privacy of U.S. [...]

FOIA: The Freedom of Information Act

The notion of freedom of information is one widely held around the globe. At present there are over 85 countries with freedom of information legislation in effect. The concept of freedom of information relates to the Fair Information Practice Principle of access which states that individuals have the right to view the records an entity maintains about them. However, due to security reasons it is impractical and dangerous to allow the public to access all federal records. In the United States, the Freedom of Information Act, passed in 1966 attempted to resolve the public’s right to access with the necessity of keeping certain records [...]

Driver’s Privacy Protection Act

The Driver’s Privacy Protection act was enacted in response to a number of crimes resulting from abuse of personal information maintained in Department of Motor Vehicle records systems. Most prominent of these crimes, was the death of actress Rebecca Schaeffer. A private investigator retrieved her home address from the California Department of Motor Vehicles database. The information was the used by her stalker to follow and eventually kill her. The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act helps to prevent such crimes by creating strict rules for the disclosure of an individual’s DMV [...]