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Implementation of the Routine Use Clause of the Privacy Act
Author(s) -
Cox Gloria
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
review of policy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1541-1338
pISSN - 1541-132X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-1338.1991.tb00278.x
Subject(s) - ftc fair information practice , privacy policy , information privacy , information privacy law , legislature , privacy law , data protection act 1998 , privacy by design , government (linguistics) , cornerstone , privacy laws of the united states , internet privacy , personally identifiable information , business , political science , law , computer science , art , linguistics , philosophy , visual arts
Information privacy, the privacy of personally identifiable data held by organizations, gained access to the federal policy agenda in the sixties. The passage of several legislative acts resulted in protection for information privacy in specific environments and circumstances. In 1974, the Privacy Act was passed, providing citizens limited protection for data held by agencies of the federal government. While the Privacy Act is the cornerstone of protection for citizens with regard to government‐held data, the law has been less effective than its designers hoped it would be. One major deject of the law is the routine use clause, which has been subjected to broad interpretation and distortion, to the benefit of executive branch agencies which handle personally identifiable data. This article examines the issue of information privacy, with focus on the misuse of the routine use clause and subsequent implications for citizen privacy.