In theory, the Privacy Act of 1974, ¹ enacted as part of the
Watergate-era reforms, regulates virtually all government
handling of personal data. In practice the Privacy Act is a weak
and poorly enforced statute. Consequently, there are only
minimal restrictions on federal agencies' collection, use, and
disclosure of personal data.

The law was intended to set up a code of fair information
practices between Americans and their government. It obli-
gates agencies "to the greatest extent practical," to collect
only "necessary" information directly from the individual. It
also calls on agencies to inform people of the agency's author-
ity to collect the data, of how it will be used, and of the
consequences to the individual, if any, of not providing the
data.

The law attempts to ensure that individuals are not haunted
by wrong or misleading agency records by requiring that the
government maintain all files with "such accuracy, relevance,
timeliness and completeness as is reasonably necessary to
assure fairness to the person." To preclude harassment of the
government's political enemies, agencies are barred from
maintaining records on how individuals exercised their First
Amendment rights, except when authorized by statute or the
individual or when pertinent to an authorized law enforce-
ment activity.

Individuals have a right to see and copy their own records
and to correct inaccurate information. However, intelligence
and law enforcement agencies can exclude entire systems of
records from individual access, though some of these records
can be reached under the Freedom of Information Act.

To allay fears that giving information to one agency would be
like giving it to the entire government, the act prohibits

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