WASHINGTON, D.C. – On October 18, 2011, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, introduced the Privacy Act Modernization for the Information Age Act of 2011 to amend the Privacy Act of 1974 and other privacy related laws to modernize them for the information age. 

Senator Akaka said:  “With the expansion of technology and the proliferation of personal information held by government agencies, the risk of losing or misusing information has grown exponentially.  There have been few updates to the Privacy Act of 1974, leaving the law more applicable to file cabinets and clunky 30-year-old databases than the modern information technology systems in use today.  Moreover, increased security needs over the last 10 years have created pressure on agencies to use existing personal information in new ways.  The growth in the business of buying and selling individuals’ information also raises new questions about the extent to which the Privacy Act applies to these sources of data on individuals used by the government.”

The bill addresses issues identified by Senator Akaka’s oversight work on privacy through hearings and reports from the Government Accountability Office.  Key provisions of the legislation would:


Senator Akaka’s full introductory statement is available here: LINK

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