The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a), enacted in 1974, established controls over what personal information the Federal government collects and how it uses or discloses that information. The Privacy Act has four basic objectives that the Department of the Interior (DOI) is committed to fulfilling to the greatest extent possible:
- To restrict disclosure of personally identifiable records maintained by agencies;
- To grant individuals increased rights of access to agency records maintained on them;
- To grant individuals the right to seek amendment of agency records maintained on themselves upon a showing that the records are not accurate, relevant, timely, or complete; and
- To establish a code of "fair information practices" that requires agencies to comply with statutory norms for collection, maintenance, and dissemination of records.
The Division of Information Resources and Technology Management:
- Coordinates the completion of Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA);
- Coordinates the completion of Privacy Act requests;
- Prepares Privacy Act reports on behalf of the Service;
- Coordinates the establishment of new systems of records and the revisions to existing systems; and
- Reviews Privacy Act systems within the Service.
DOI and Federal privacy policies and privacy-related resources
