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 [...]
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 [...]
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 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, containing 5 separate Titles and 40 different sections, created many new regulations for the implementation and use of electronic information in the Federal [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
GLBA also know as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 applies to the financial sector. GLBA repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which required financial institutions to be restricted to acting as either an investment bank, a commercial bank, or an insurance company. With the repeal, financial institutions were allowed to merge these activities under one company or financial [...]
HIPAA is a sectoral law that was first developed in 1996, to enact several changes in the healthcare industry. Among these changes are a security rule and privacy rule which protect personal health [...]
