| The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is often criticized for its privacy policies and practices, as it handles a vast amount of sensitive personal information. However, it is important to note how the DHS does attempt to protect personal privacy, in policy as well as practice. In addition to compliance with federal privacy legislation, such as the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and the Privacy Act, the Department consults with privacy professionals in order to evaluate new or potential programs, systems, technologies and certain rule-making procedures in order to appropriately handle personal information. This article takes a look at exactly how the Department of Homeland Security approaches privacy [...] Canadian Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) identify potential privacy threats that exist in new or revamped federal government programs or services. The objective of the assessment is to eliminate or reduce privacy or security threats. All federal departments, agencies and institutions are obliged to conduct PIAs for any programs or services that may raise privacy concerns. As part of the process, the department must examine and asses the procedures for protection of personal information throughout the program’s lifecycle (i.e. collection, storage, usage, disclosure and [...] The Office of Management and Budget is one of several Government departments that issues new regulations and recommendations for protecting information maintained by the Federal Government. OMB Circular A-130, Memorandum-01-05, and Memorandum-05-08 are three important documents issued by the Office of Management and Budget for these [...] In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security an Office of Management and Budget, along with the Presidential Identity Theft Task Force, investigated information privacy and security practices in the United States Government. They developed a report called the Common Risks Impeding the Adequate Protection of Government Information (pdf)which included a list of ten common mistakes made by U.S. departments and agencies and provided recommendations for new practices to be implement to eliminate and reduce security [...] 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 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 [...] | |
