In December 1974, Congress passed a law relating to protection
of privacy in the administrative process of Federal executive
agencies. The President signed the legislation on January
1, 1975 and the Privacy Act (P.L. 93-579) became effective
on September 27, 1975.
The Privacy Act gives American citizens and aliens lawfully
admitted 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 Privacy Act assures individuals on whom information is
collected that:
The following links provide additional information on
the Privacy Act: